A Night With The Producers

Guild Hall hosted a star-studded, Broadway-themed weekend when five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman (who is also a Guild Hall Academy of the Arts member) presented “Stroman Presents,” three nights of music, dance and laughter celebrating musicals she has worked on, both past and present.

The event kicked off on August 27, with Stroman reminiscing with cast members about the 20th anniversary of Broadway’s record-breaking smash “The Producers,” the musical which, at the time, broke box office records and won the most Tony Awards ever in one year. Stroman was joined in person by three stars from the show — Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane and Brad Oscar — who all shared memorable moments of working on the musical, as well as a song or two. The evening was capped-off by a visit from 95-year-old Mel Brooks, who joined the conversation via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. Brooks, who wrote and directed the original 1967 film version of “The Producers” starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, also penned the music and lyrics for the Broadway version, which premiered in April 2001 and ran for six years.

On August 28, the audience got an exclusive sneak peek at the new Broadway musical “Little Dancer” with staged scenes featuring the legendary Terrence Mann and NYC Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck. The weekend came to a close on August 29 with excerpts from the upcoming revival of “Crazy for You” with a toe-tapping Tony Yazbeck, Sierra Boggess, Melissa Errico, and Dee Hoty. All three evenings featured musical direction by Greg Jarrett.

Guild Hall will continue its live theater offerings through September 11 with “Crisis in Queens” by Joy Behar on September 3 and 4, an encore presentation of “2020” directed by Bob Balaban on September 5, and “Hitler’s Tasters” by Michelle Kholos Brooks (who happens to be the daughter-in-law of Mel Brooks) from September 9 through 11.