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Recording ''The Producers''
Sony Music // Unrated // October 2, 2001
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Director/actor Mel Brooks was convinced to do a musical version of the film "The Producers". Although some (including Brooks, according to this documentary) seemed to think that the film should stay on the screen, the results of their effort has probably surpassed all expectations of both cast, crew and audience. Opening up on Broadway in 2001, the play won 12 Tony awards and has been drawing in massive audiences. It's also really started a return interest in the original film, which is renting more now then ever, it seems.
This 85 minute documentary goes into the studio with the cast while they record the album version of the musical. Brooks provides insight about the origin of the songs, while the camera then focuses on Broderick and Lane preparing to record. As one might expect, Broderick seems slightly withdrawn (although he does an impression of Marlon Brando that's extremely hilarious), but pleased with the proceedings, while Lane scurries about and cracks some rather funny comments, although I wasn't sure if his comments about technical problems were him trying to be funny or if he was legitimately irriated. The funniest part of it all is Brooks; when asked if he wants to keep going and pay the percussion overtime, he falls back in his chair and jokingly bellows, "of course not!".
For those who aren't able to get tickets to the shows themselves or are simply interested in watching the award-winning cast prepare to record the material, the program will likely be quite entertaining. Fans of the play will be pleased to see the recording session performances of "Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band?", "King Of Broadway", "We Can Do It", "I Wanna Be A Producer", "Der Gutten Tag Hop-Clop", "Keep It Gay", "When You Got It, Flaunt It", "Along Came Bialy", "That Face", "Springtime For Hitler", "Where Did We Got Right?", "Betrayed", "Til Him".
The DVD
VIDEO: "Recording The Producers" is presented in the program's original 1.33:1 full_frame aspect ratio by Sony Classical. In terms of image quality, this is one of the better Sony Music DVD titles that I've seen. The full_frame image presented the program with very strong sharpness and detail. The only problem that I noticed was a tiny trace or two of pixelation, although I doubt anyone will be bothered or even notice. Although this wasn't a particularly colorful program, colors shown looked well-saturated and vibrant, with no problems. Very nice.
SOUND: The program has been remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the results are mixed. The sound quality is actually quite enjoyable, as the music has a very nice, full-bodied sound that comes through very clearly and richly. On the other hand, the new 5.1 sound mix is essentially very basic, as it becomes apparent that generally the same information is coming through all 5 speakers; the surround use just seems rather artificial. Although I didn't really find any major concerns with the 5.1 presentation, I would think a simple stereo version would be sufficent for this material and, thankfully, that's also included here.
EXTRAS:: Nearly 13 minutes of bonus footage (including more Brando from Broderick and some interesting interviews), photo gallery and promo spots for 3 Broadway CDs.
Final Thoughts: Those who are fans of the theatrical play will most definitely want to pick this up, it's a nicely produced program that they'll likely enjoy. Sony Classical does provide the program in Dolby Digital 5.1, but I thought the Stereo version was sufficent and enjoyable. Recommended.
Director/actor Mel Brooks was convinced to do a musical version of the film "The Producers". Although some (including Brooks, according to this documentary) seemed to think that the film should stay on the screen, the results of their effort has probably surpassed all expectations of both cast, crew and audience. Opening up on Broadway in 2001, the play won 12 Tony awards and has been drawing in massive audiences. It's also really started a return interest in the original film, which is renting more now then ever, it seems.
This 85 minute documentary goes into the studio with the cast while they record the album version of the musical. Brooks provides insight about the origin of the songs, while the camera then focuses on Broderick and Lane preparing to record. As one might expect, Broderick seems slightly withdrawn (although he does an impression of Marlon Brando that's extremely hilarious), but pleased with the proceedings, while Lane scurries about and cracks some rather funny comments, although I wasn't sure if his comments about technical problems were him trying to be funny or if he was legitimately irriated. The funniest part of it all is Brooks; when asked if he wants to keep going and pay the percussion overtime, he falls back in his chair and jokingly bellows, "of course not!".
For those who aren't able to get tickets to the shows themselves or are simply interested in watching the award-winning cast prepare to record the material, the program will likely be quite entertaining. Fans of the play will be pleased to see the recording session performances of "Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band?", "King Of Broadway", "We Can Do It", "I Wanna Be A Producer", "Der Gutten Tag Hop-Clop", "Keep It Gay", "When You Got It, Flaunt It", "Along Came Bialy", "That Face", "Springtime For Hitler", "Where Did We Got Right?", "Betrayed", "Til Him".
The DVD
VIDEO: "Recording The Producers" is presented in the program's original 1.33:1 full_frame aspect ratio by Sony Classical. In terms of image quality, this is one of the better Sony Music DVD titles that I've seen. The full_frame image presented the program with very strong sharpness and detail. The only problem that I noticed was a tiny trace or two of pixelation, although I doubt anyone will be bothered or even notice. Although this wasn't a particularly colorful program, colors shown looked well-saturated and vibrant, with no problems. Very nice.
SOUND: The program has been remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the results are mixed. The sound quality is actually quite enjoyable, as the music has a very nice, full-bodied sound that comes through very clearly and richly. On the other hand, the new 5.1 sound mix is essentially very basic, as it becomes apparent that generally the same information is coming through all 5 speakers; the surround use just seems rather artificial. Although I didn't really find any major concerns with the 5.1 presentation, I would think a simple stereo version would be sufficent for this material and, thankfully, that's also included here.
EXTRAS:: Nearly 13 minutes of bonus footage (including more Brando from Broderick and some interesting interviews), photo gallery and promo spots for 3 Broadway CDs.
Final Thoughts: Those who are fans of the theatrical play will most definitely want to pick this up, it's a nicely produced program that they'll likely enjoy. Sony Classical does provide the program in Dolby Digital 5.1, but I thought the Stereo version was sufficent and enjoyable. Recommended.
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