I have a confession to make – although I have some knowledge about what the original film is about I have never seen The Producers! So it is lovely to rectify this by going to see the new touring production of the film while it was at the New Victoria Theatre (finished yesterday).

This production stars Jason Manford as Leo Bloom who wants to make it as a Broadway producer so teams up with Cory English as Max Bialystock in order to create the worst musical possible in a scam to run away with two million dollars.

As it is based on a Mel Brooks film, you can expect plenty of laughs and fun to be had (of course not all of it tasteful!) and all involved rise to the occasion magnificently. I particularly enjoyed Ross Noble’s Franz Liebkind with his crazed look in his eyes as he waved his gun around causing chaos everywhere.

But I was also very fond of Manford’s Leo Bloom who is shy and awkward and brilliantly performed. Tiffany Graves as Ulla was also wonderfully comical and managed to keep the boys on track throughout and so there is wonderful chemistry between them all.

The songs may not be the most memorable but the dance sequences were brilliantly choreographed by Lee Proud and the energy throughout from all (particularly considering the number of costume changes there were) was extraordinary.

It is hands down one of the most crazy shows that I have ever been to and is memorable because of it.

But it can be a bit slow in places and the opening ten minutes certainly felt a bit sluggish, so it did take me a while to get into it. However, it is absolutely fine once everything settles down and the story really starts to get going.

if there is one other minor complaint it is the number of songs that are in the first act. It just seems as though there are too many crammed in and don’t really add anything to the story. For me it would have been better for the characters to have had more conversations rather then relying so much on the music. However, I accept that I may be in the minority there but I do think Springtime for Hitler has to be one of the best sequences performed in a musical ever.

A brilliantly funny and clever show, if you can catch it while it is on tour then do so!