When you're in a show like The Producers, you're a part of something so full of energy that it isn't always easy to take a step back and see how you - and it - got there. Jeff Denman had the good idea of keeping a journal - something many of us wish we had done and hardly ever take the time to do.
Jeff and I worked together in my first Broadway musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. I didn't see a lot of him, though, because he was an offstage understudy, what we call a swing. Now we're on the same stage in The Producers. I play Leo Bloom opposite Nathan Lane's Max Bialystock. And Jeff? Jeff plays a blind violinist, a terrible choreographer, a little old lady in a walker, FDR, a guy auditioning to play the Führer in "Springtime for Hitler," and a Nazi or two. Not a lot of lines, but a lot of work.
I've never been in the ensemble of a Broadway show. As Leo Bloom, I've got to have a big picture. But the ensemble is about having a lot of little pictures and making them all fit into the frame. Reading Jeff's account of how The Producers got put together I'm reminded of what is too easy to forget. I'm thinking, for example, of how tough it was to get that blanket drop right in the Leo-Ulla scene in act two (note to Jeff: the trick is in the way Leo puts the blanket into his pocket a few minutes earlier). So much effort goes into a routine we try to make the audience think is second nature. If you read what Jeff has to say about a few seconds on stage as FDR, you'll see what I mean. All big shows work this way. The Producers is no exception.
Jeff's year begins with Cats, a show he joined in its final Broadway life. It ends when he goes on one weekend for, er, me as Leo Bloom. He's proud of getting that blue blanket drop in all four performances. He should be.
Jeff doesn't say it's his favorite year, but he comes close. Anyone who has been in an ensemble or an audition will recognize Jeff's story. Anyone who has seen a Broadway show and wondered how it gets put together will enjoy the backstage view. Like everyone else in the theater, Jeff's love of performing gets him on stage. I think that comes through on the pages that follow. I hope you'll enjoy reading them. And see a Broadway show soon.
Matthew Broderick
December 2001