arts & entertainment Actor comes to terms with comic Nazi imagery in The Producers. Tony Targan Special to the Jewish News W hen I was cast as the flamboy- antly gay Carmen Ghia in The Producers, the Farmington Players' spring musical running April 29-May 21, I embraced my role. Like the sporty car (Karmann Ghia) for which my character is named, Carmen is flashy, high maintenance and can shift gears — emo- tionally — on a dime. I am confident enough in my own mas- culinity that I have no problem playing the effeminate Carmen. But I did have one nag- ging concern: As a Jew, is it wrong for me to play The Producers with the bitingly over-the-top "Springtime for Hitler" — for laughs? Does making fun of Hitler and the Nazis somehow trivialize the Holocaust? True, the show has played as part of suc- cessful national tours at Detroit's Fisher Theatre, but how will the Farmington Players' production — with six Jewish cast members — go over with the local Jewish community or at my synagogue in Farmington Hills? To put these questions in context, you first need to understand that the show's most elaborate number, "Springtime for Hitler," is a play-within-the-play. No one would stage a Nazi musical for its own merit or to glorify Hitler. To the contrary, Springtime is sup- posed to be the worst, most offensive play ever written — a guaranteed flop. As movie critic Roger Ebert wrote in reviewing the 1968 movie version of The Producers: "To produce a musical named Springtime for Hitler was of course in the worst possible taste, as an escaping the- ater patron observes in the movie — to the delight of [producers] Bialystock and Bloom, who were counting on just that — 52 April 21 a 2011 reaction. To make a movie about such a musical was also in bad taste, of course. How did Mel Brooks, the writer and direc- tor, get away with this? By establishing the amoral desperation of both key characters at the outset, and by casting them with actors you couldn't help liking, even so. Like Falstaff, Zero Mostel's Max Bialystock is a man whose hungers are so vast they excuse his appetites." Mel Brooks — born Melvin Kaminsky, Jewish — has said, "You have to laugh at dictators like Hitler. That's the one thing in the world they really cannot stand — being figures of fun." But Brooks is hardly the first Jew to have fought fascism by poking fun at Hitler. As noted last year by Cory Franklin in the Jerusalem Post, even during World War II, Hitler parody was prevalent. He writes: "In 1940, with America still a neutral in World War II, the Three Stooges did You Natzy Spy, the first film to satirize Hitler. Hitler, played by Stooges' leader Moe Howard (born Moses Horwitz, Jewish) sprinkled his diatribes liberally with Yiddish. "A year later, Charlie Chaplin made The Great Dictator, the classic film satirizing Hitler (Chaplin was not Jewish although several of his close family members were). Chaplin, in a dual role, played an inno- cent Jewish barber mistaken for Adenoid Hynkel, a savage caricature of Hitler. Hynkel is a power mad maniac who dances with a balloon globe of the world. The film received worldwide acclaim, and Hitler reportedly watched it. "Then, in 1942, Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, Jewish) starred in his most famous film, To Be or Not to Be, about an acting troupe outwitting the Nazis in occupied Poland. It portrays Hitler pranc- ing around, saying, "Heil, myself." Later in the war, Looney Tunes, a Warner Brothers company, headed by Jack Warner (born Jacob Warner, Jewish), did a cartoon spoof of Hitler with Daffy Duck conking him on the head during a party rally." OK, so mocking Nazis has some his- torical precedent, but oy vey this is suburban Detroit in the heart of the Jewish community. But, as it turns out, Farmington Hills is far from the unlikeliest place The Producers has played. In fact, in 2009, The Producers had a successful run in Berlin, Germany. It was staged at the Admiralspalast, a theater that Hitler used to attend. Theater manager Falk Walter said: "If there's any city in the world where it should be performed, it's Berlin. For one, this town was the root of all the evil. And it also hap- pens to be the most tolerant and exciting city in Germany" Even so, a German audience is one thing; I wondered how Israelis would feel about the play? If anyone has more reason to see red" — to have a visceral reaction to the Nazi symbolism in The Producers a Jewish audience in Israel would be the ulti- mate litmus test. As it turns out, in 2006, The Producers was a big hit in Tel Aviv. As Martin Patience wrote for the BBC News website,"Every night at the Cameri Theatre, musical-goers pack out the 920- — (( — Jewish cast members in the Farmington Players' production of The Producers: left to right, back row, Nicole Jones (Warren), Ari Kirsch (West Bloomfield), Gary Weinstein (Farmington Hills) and Jan Jacobs (Farmington Hills); front row, Tony Targan (West Bloomfield) and Gary Feinberg (Farmington Hills). seat venue to see dancing Fuhrers and brown-shirts decked out in swastikas. `If there's one place in the world that has full license to make fun of Hitler, it's here, says the Israeli director of the musical, Micah Levensohn." While some audience members with a personal connection to the camps may find it uncomfortable, showing The Producers in Tel Aviv shows that Israeli society has "moved on" since World War II. Theatergoer Rutz Aknin said, "I think it's important because it gives you a perspective of life. Now we can laugh about Hitler and this makes us stronger. It shows that we're sur- vivors:' If audiences in Berlin and Tel Aviv have enough tolerance and perspective to accept The Producers in all its frivolous, equal-opportunity offensiveness, I think Farmington Hills will do just fine. So when Carmen offers Bialystock and Bloom to take their "hats, coats and swasti- kas," please don't take offense. I The Producers runs April 29-May 21 at the Farmington Players Barn Theater in Farmington Hills. For show dates and tickets, call (248) 553-2955 or go to www. farmingtonplayers.org . Immediately following the May 15 matinee performance, cast members will hold a special panel discussion, "Reactions to Nazi Imagery in The Producers." Panelists include Rabbi Aaron Bergman of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills and cast member Ari Kirsch, both of whose parents are concentration camp survivors. Cast member Tony Targan will act as moderator and field questions and comments from the audience.