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Actor makes Mel laugh, lands part in 'The Producers'
BY JEFF KORBELIK / Lincoln Journal Star
Thursday, Jan 20, 2005 - 06:33:13 pm CST

Part of the audition process for "The Producers" is to prepare a joke for Mel Brooks.

"Sometimes people wonder what makes us sick to our stomachs," actor Stuart Marland said. "That would be one: To tell Mel Brooks a joke." Brooks, after all, is one of the kings of comedy, and making him laugh is no easy task.

Unless you have a little luck and some bad food on your side as Marland did during his audition.

Marland plays the role of flamboyant director Roger DeBris in the hit "The Producers: The New Mel Brooks Musical," which opens Tuesday at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha.

He landed the primo part thanks to an off-the-cuff remark he made during his callback.

Marland, whose resume includes three years on Broadway in "Jekyll & Hyde," was invited back after surviving the first round, which didn't include a joke telling.

At the second audition, Marland sang his song and then readied for his reading.

When the creative team asked about his script, he glanced to where his backpack was. The script was in the pack, which sat next to a banquet table filled with "green roast beef, dry bread and wilted lettuce."

"I told them, ‘I don't need it, but would they mind if I had a sandwich before I read?'" Marland said.

The place exploded, including Brooks, who laughed until he was red in the face.

Apparently, the food had been a topic of conversation the entire day, and Marland inadvertently became the punchline.

"That was my joke," he said. "It happened by chance. I couldn't have prepared a better joke. I was so, so lucky."

Marland calls his role the "part of a lifetime" and said to watch for the character's entrances, including one in which he wears a beaded, floorlength gown.

He said the entrances will evoke memories of "Hello, Dolly!" and "Mame."

He's having so much fun that he's already lamenting the tour's end in July.

"We have such a great product to deliver," he said. "I'm proud of being in such a great show. Night after night, we hear our audiences roaring with glee."

Based on Brooks' Academy Award-winning 1968 film of the same name, "The Producers" is the story of down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Bialystock (Bob Amaral) and Leo Bloom (Andy Taylor), a mousy accountant.

Together they hatch the ultimate scam: raise more money than needed for a sure-fire Broadway flop and pocket the difference.

Their "sure-fire" theatrical fiasco? None other than the musical "Springtime for Hitler."

Brooks won an Oscar for his movie screenplay.

His musical swept the 2001 Tony Awards, receiving the most awards (12) in Broadway history.

It's known for irreverent comedy and biting wit — a typical Mel Brooks production.

"In Mel Brooks' world nobody is exempt from his humor and wrath," said Marland, who called the comic genius an "equal opportunity" offender.

"Every being is dragged through the coals," he said. "Yes, it's the gays. Yes, it's the little old ladies, and the Jews, the Swedish and the blacks. Everyone gets the wrath of Mel Brooks. But it's done with love and a twinkle in the eye."

So much so, he said, you can't help but laugh.

A lot.

"I normally don't say things like this, but our matinee audiences have been our best," he said. "The blue-haired ladies … you have no idea how rewarding it is to hear these older people, who are normally more reserved, screaming with laughter.

"It's so thrilling," he added. "It really is."

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.

If you go
What: "The Producers: The New Mel Brooks Musical"
Where: Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St., Omaha
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through next Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Jan. 29, 2 and 7 p.m. Jan. 30
Tickets: Range from $33 to $63; 475-1212 or www.ticketmaster.com