Just try tiptoeing through the tulips when you are dressed as one of 80 ladies with a walker and heels in Central Park.
Eric Gunhus, a 1988 graduate of Parker’s Ponderosa High School, appears throughout Mel Brooks’ new film “The Producers.” He performs in the chorus of all the “musical within a musical” numbers, and as one of the many little old ladies who get bilked out of their money in exchange for sexual favors.
“We did turn some heads,” Gunhus said of a tulip-laden Central Park location shoot. Luckily, no one turned a hip.
“The Producers” is the silly story of an unscrupulous producer who raises money to mount a surefire flop – one that will close so fast there still will be plenty of funds left over to abscond with. The original 1968 Mel Brooks film was reinvented in 2001, when it became the most-honored musical in Broadway history.
When the time came to bring the new musical back to the screen, there was never any doubt original stage stars Matthew Broderick (Leo Bloom), Nathan Lane (Max Bialystock), Roger Bart (Carmen Ghia) and Gary Beach (Roger DeBris) would reprise their roles. But with so many millions of dollars at stake, the film’s producers had to tap into some star supporting power, hence Uma Thurman as Ulla and Will Ferrell as film-stealing, Hitler-loving playwright Franz Liebkind.
But Gunhus originated the role of the Lead Tenor in the Broadway cast in 2001, and has now sung the musical’s outrageous showstopper “Springtime for Hitler” more than 1,900 times. So he admits he was a bit disappointed to be ousted from singing his signature tune in the film. After all, replacement John Barrowman (“De-Lovely”) is talented, but not exactly in the same celebrity league as Thurman, Ferrell or Jon Lovitz.
“I considered sending poisoned Chinese food to his hotel room, but I thought better of it,” Gunhus joked. He was grateful to be among about 20 past and present “Producers” Broadway castmates who were put to work in various capacities. Gunhus called the 55-day shoot at a Brooklyn studio and on location throughout Manhattan this spring “a total joy,” and credits Susan Stroman, director of both the stage musical and the film.
“They could have gone to central casting to fill all the small roles, but it’s all thanks to Susan that they were able to use so much of the Broadway cast,” Gunhus said. “The fact that someone else got to do the role that I originated was hard, but they did it for very understandable reasons, and he was fantastic in the role.”
Gunhus was only too happy to don a dress and play one of Max’s little old ladies. On stage, about 24 players sing the very funny “Along Came Bialy,” which cleverly integrates walkers into the choreography. For the film, Stroman used 80. “Most of them really were little old ladies,” Gunhus said. “But about a third of us are guys, so you can understand why we were stuck more toward the periphery.”
Stroman also insisted Brad Oscar, the original stage Franz (and later Max), play a cab driver, and Richard Kind, another former Max, play a jury foreman. Other big stage names appearing in chorus and cameos include Hunter Foster and Karen Ziemba. Daniel Herron, Gunhus’ classmate at Ponderosa and the Lead Tenor in the national touring production that came through Denver in 2003, doesn’t appear on camera but was hired with Gunhus to sing for the soundtrack recording.
Though reviews have been mixed, Gunhus was thrilled with the final product. “It is such an amazing reproduction of the Broadway show,” he said. “It’s truly the completion of a great journey from the film to the stage and now back to screen.”
Gunhus said all the attention now being paid to the film has created a positive energy at the theater where “The Producers” still plays eight times a week, to about 80 percent capacity. Although that’s a far cry from the days when Lane and Broderick made it Broadway’s hottest show, it remains a solid, ongoing hit.
“It’s too early to tell if the film will have a trickle-down effect at the box office, but it certainly generated a bump when ‘Chicago,’ ‘Rent’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera’ were made into films,” he said.
In the meantime, Gunhus is happy to continue singing from the stage the over-the-top lyrics, “Springtime for Hitler and Germany. Deutschland is happy and gay! We’re marching to a faster pace. Look out, here comes the master race!”
Dec. 4 marked the fifth anniversary of the show’s first rehearsal. Gunhus has since watched the marquees on 44th Street in Times Square repeatedly transform. “I keep a list of all the shows that have come and gone on our little block, and it’s close to 20,” Gunhus said. “But we’re still here.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
