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DVD Review  Recording The Producers –   A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks   Featuring recording sessions of 14 songs from the hit Broadway musical Music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks PCM Stereo/ 5.1 Dolby Digital / 16:9 anamorphic   Available on Sony Classical SVD 89706 Running Time: 85 mins Crotchet   Amazon UK See also Ian Lace's review of the Broadway cast album. A DVD of a studio sound recording of the above album? Sounds dry and uninteresting? Not a bit of it. Mel Brooks himself hosts the event and narrates the storyline of his show in between the songs. He also clowns around sometimes amusingly, but just as often muttering material that is quite incomprehensible. But it is the stage-like performances of the stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick that raise a smile, and the supporting actors are just as brilliant, especially Gary Beach who camps it up first as the gay director at first reluctant to have anything to do with 'Springtime For Hitler' and then as Adolf 'Elizabeth' Hitler in 'Heil Myself', who steals the show. All participants including the chorus, orchestra and recording executives clearly enjoyed themselves immensely and their enthusiasm is irresistible. Bonus materials include interviews with the Lane and Broderick about how the show developed and the auditions: "you had to demonstrate you could sing and dance and tell a joke that would make Mel Brooks laugh" – but time spent on in-jokes is wasted. A (mostly) hilarious 1½ hours Ian Lace 4
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