The show will then move on to Rome’s Teatro Brancaccio on March 17 and will end its short tour at Trieste’s Politeama Rossetti, where it will play from May 5 through May 14. The stage version will anticipate by a little less than a month the screen version of the musical, which is scheduled to be released in movie theatres across Italy on Feb. 24.
The Italian production of Mel Brooks’ musical will retain its original title, although the 1968 movie was released in Italy with the title "Per favore non toccate le vecchiette" ("Please, do not touch the little old ladies").
The book and the lyrics have been translated in Italian by Michele Renzullo: the title song "Springtime for Hitler" has become "Primavera di Hitler", while other popular songs have been translated into "Si può fare" ("We Can Do It"), "Che sia gay" ("Keep It Gay") and "Ma che errore c’è" ("Where Did We Go Wrong"). The show will star Enzo Iacchetti in the role of "Max von Bialystock." Iacchetti is a popular television entertainer, best known to the general public for his long engagements as anchorman of the satirical daily TV newsreel "Striscia la notizia", the most popular and highest-rating show in Italy.
Iacchetti was featured alongside Mel Brooks in the 1999 movie "Svitati" ("Screw Loose"), directed by Ezio Greggio.
Gianluca Guidi, one of the most popular musical stars in Italy, will play the role of Leo Bloom. While The Producers marks Iacchetti’s debut in a musical theatre production, for Guidi the show marks the return to a musical after his highly acclaimed performances in Gigi and They’re Playing Our Song, and his starring role in a recent successful revival of Neil Simon’s play Barefoot in the Park, which toured in the last two seasons all over Italy. The Producers, directed by Saverio Marconi (Grease, Seven Brothers for Seven Sisters, Some Like It Hot) and produced by Compagnia della Rancia, will also feature Gianfranco Phino in the role of Roger De Bris, Simona Samarelli in the role of Ulla, Fabrizio Angelini (who is also the choreographer of this production) in the role of Carmen Ghia and Marco Massari in the role of Franz Liebkind.
The Italian staging of The Producers is particularly interesting because for the first time a highly successful musical whose original production is still running both on Broadway and in London’s West End opens on an Italian stage.
For further information about the Italian version of "The Producers" you can visit the show’s website at www.theproducers.it.
