Jeremy Franklin, Josiah Cote, and Jennifer Walder will be on stage in the regional premiere of "The Producers" in Robinson Theatre at the Moss Performing Arts Center starting Feb. 24. Criterion Photo

Last semester, the theater department brought fish nets, lip stick, and platform heels to its Mesa State audience. This semester, they are bringing a whole new bag of tricks.
Feb. 24 marks the opening night of Mesa State’s rendition of “The Producers.”  Melonie Buchanan Murray, assistant professor of dance, is the choreographer for the production.
“It’s a huge production,” Buchanan Murray said. The cast for the crew reaches almost 30 people, and the lights, sound, set, and costumes crew adds another 20 people.
Riding the momentum from “The Rocky Horror Show,” many freshmen have been cast in this production, including Brandon Lucas, who is performing the role of Roger Debris.
“It’s non-stop high energy, high vocal, high everything,” Lucas said.
The freshmen members of the cast are not the only ones bringing their “A” game to the stage.
“The cast has done their homework,” Buchanan Murray said. “We work on something once and they come back and they’ve got it.”
The story for “The Producers” was written by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan with music and lyrics by Mel Brooks as well. The story revolves around two characters’ scheme to become millionaires and escape to Rio.
One character is Max Bialystock, a washed up Broadway producer played by Jeremy R. Franklin, assistant professor of music theater. The other is a coward of an accountant named Leo Bloom, played by freshmen Josiah Cote. The pair develop a scheme to raise money to produce a show but they raised more money than they needed. They then pick a show that’s a guaranteed flop, so that when the show fails they can take the money and run. They decide to produce “Springtime for Hitler,” and hire Lucas’ character Roger Debris, the worst director in town, to direct it.
“The way the show is written is just ridiculous,” Lucas said.
Acting-directing major Jessica Whelan will be student-directing alongside the director and head of the theater department, Rich Cowden.
“What’s more fun than watching dancing-singing swastikas?” Whelan asked.
The show is full of taboos, in traditional Mel Brooks style.
“Come see it! It’s such a quotable show. You’ll be talking about stooping old ladies for months to come,” Lucas said.
“The Producers” is also part of the Play with Your Food series, meaning that some performances are dinner theater. The Friday and Saturday night performances as well as the Sunday matinees give patrons the option of indulging in a German feast before the show in the Black Box catered by Omar’s.
Tickets can be purchased at the box office located in the Moss Performing Arts Center; tickets for dinner can also be purchased at the box office. The show runs for two weeks, Wednesday through Saturday, beginning Feb. 24. For more information you may call the box office at 970-248-1604.