Full Bloom Alan Ruck likes being Leo in The Producers BY BILL RODRIGUEZ

There’s such a need around here for what The Producers has to offer that the musical has come to town for a two-week run at the Providence Performing Arts Center. (See the "After Deadline" review in the Fall Preview.)

The 1968 movie of the same name, written and directed by Mel Brooks, offered Brooks and Gene Wilder in the lead roles. Eventually Brooks took a plunge and co-wrote the book and songs with Annie scribe Thomas Meehan for a show that hit Broadway in the spring of 2001 and grabbed up a dozen Tony awards. (To complete the Russian dolls image, next year a film of the musical of the film will come out, with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprising their stage roles.)

The tour stars Broadway regular Lewis J. Stadlen, borrowed from the New York production, as Max Bialystock. Max recruits accountant Leo Bloom — Alan Ruck — for a swindle that involves producing a musical that has to fail, since they are going to sell several times 100 percent interest to little old lady investors. But what they come up with — a lighthearted romp called Springtime for Hitler — ends up a hit.

Nowadays, road versions of Big Apple musicals tend to have better production values than they used to. So Ruck will go on to play Leo on Broadway when his turn on the road concludes in December. The actor is most familiar for his role as the horny Stuart in TV’s Spin City. He first came to our attention in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), coincidentally playing Matthew Broderick’s best friend and tease target. Ruck first connected with Broderick the year before, when they worked in a Tony-winning production of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues. Now in his mid-40s, Ruck has more than a dozen films behind him, among them Speed, Twister, and Star Trek: Generations.

Ruck spoke by phone, on the road in Connecticut.

Q: You had to impress Mel Brooks himself to get the role. How did that audition go?

A: I had to wait to audition for Mel until right before Halloween. That was nerve-wracking, because I had to just kind of hang loose for six weeks. I drove my family crazy singing two songs from the show over and over and over. After I got the part, my wife said, "You’re not allowed to sing that music in this house for a week."

I was nervous. It’s a big deal to meet someone like Mel Brooks. But I went in and everybody was incredibly sweet to me. They wanted to hear if I could sing. I sang one song, and that was all right. But that was nerve-wracking. I did the first scene, and then Mel said, "Listen, do you have a comb?" He took his out of his pocket and started to mess my hair up. He said, "You look too good — Leo would never be this together. You look like a partner in a law firm. Leo’s a mess." As soon as he started to mess up my hair, I kind of knew I had the part.

Q: The Houston Press called your dancing "goofy," but somehow made it sound like a compliment. Is it your steamy showgirl legs that make your hoofing work?

A: Yeah, I’m sure that’s how everybody would describe them. Heh-heh.

Q: Was becoming a professional dancer after age 40 as easy as you make it look?

A: Well, no, I don’t recommend it. I think that if anybody wants to learn how to dance they should do it when they’re a teenager or in their 20s. The good thing about this part, for me, is that you have to sing but you don’t really have to be Frank Sinatra, and you have to dance but you don’t have to be Baryshnikov. So I worked really hard, and I’m gettin’ away with it. Did you see the show?

Q: No, but knowing Leo I imagine it as Dick Van Dyke kind of stuff.

A: Yes, that’s a good way to describe it.

Q: Hey, it’s running a marathon and cracking wise at the same time. Now, most audience members didn’t see Matthew Broderick in the role on Broadway, but everybody’s seen Gene Wilder play Leo. Was that intimidating when you first stepped into the role?

A: No, because, truthfully, I can’t let anything like that get in my way . . . . You can’t let even someone as brilliant as Gene Wilder, you can’t let that get in your way, otherwise you’d never be able to get out of your door. To tell you the truth, if I had been able to I would have stolen everything that Gene Wilder did in that picture. But I couldn’t. Because before I sing a note in this play I have this scene where I have to get hysterical and frantic.

Q: Yeah, the blankie scene.

A: In the early going, I tried to do what Gene Wilder did. We had two previews in Denver when we opened. And I blew my voice out. So I had to find different ways of doing it.

Q: What’s your favorite scene or song to perform?

A: You know, it depends. This whole thing has been like a roller coaster. When I first started doing it, I was just so thrilled to have accomplished this, thrilled to have it under my belt, so to speak, just to be able to do it. I’ve always enjoyed dancing with Charley King, who plays Ulla, at the beginning of the second act. Because really — there’s so much for me to concentrate on that it’s kind of like I tap into a higher consciousness. Because I have to concentrate so hard that I sort of forget I’m me, you know? And that’s really enjoyable. Here I am dancing with a beautiful girl, and I forget who I am for a minute. It’s a lot of fun.

When I’m in good voice, I like to sing the ballad at the end of the show, " ’Til Him." And when I’m not in good voice, it’s my most hated moment in the show. I’m not really a tenor, and some of this score approaches the tenor range. Also, I don’t know who invented the idea of doing more shows in a week then there are days a week, but they were sadistic. I’m healthy and everything’s fine, but I’m in my 40s, you know, and I get tired.

The Producers is at the Providence Performing Arts Center through October 3. Call (401) 421-ARTS.