Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...To Robin's great credit, this fast-paced, enjoyable show doesn't just attempt to stick Susan Stroman's original 2001 Broadway staging in the middle of a big suburban circle, but instead comes with up some new ideas. In general, this version lets the characters float through a more imaginative world."
Chicago Sun Times
- Recommended
"...Robin's production is a great deal more subtle and Chaplinesque than the original, and a whole lot less strident. And surprise, surprise: In this version of the show you can even begin to enjoy several of the songs in Brooks' self-penned score, as opposed to leaving the theater with nothing but "Springtime for Hitler" pounding in your head."
Daily Herald
- Highly Recommended
"...Staging the post-Broadway, regional premiere of "The Producers" means shouldering quite a burden. Fortunately, Marriott Theatre has actors Ross Lehman and Guy Adkins and director/choreographer Marc Robin to do the heavy lifting."
SouthtownStar
- Highly Recommended
"...t doesn't have the glitzy set of the 2001 pre-Broadway production -- or that of the touring productions that followed it -- but "The Producers," playing at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, offers more than enough to keep us hilariously entertained."
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...The songs sell the story and the story sells the songs. Marc Robin's lean and hungry yet faithful staging reinvents Brooks's irreverence at every turn. The lovable title shysters are played by Chicago clown princes Ross Lehman and Guy Adkins, the former scheming up a storm, the latter sweetly needy, with an adenoidal warble and a late-blooming lust for life."
Windy City Times
- Highly Recommended
"...The real star of the show, however, is director/choreographer Marc Robin, whose Noah’s-Ark processionals and wagon-wheel promenades keep the pace lively and stage picture vibrant throughout."
Chicago Free Press
- Somewhat Recommended
"...If you’re among the uninitiated as well, here’s a bracing dose of reality: This show making so many people swoon seems to be the biggest hoax since Bialystock and Bloom conned a legion of old ladies out of their money to produce “Springtime for Hitler.” It’s true that all the hype probably raised expectations beyond any reasonable threshold. Still, unless you’re a huge Mel Brooks fan (and to be sure, the guy’s made some funny movies), nobody should be surprised if you react to this musical with a big 'Huh?' "
EpochTimes
- Highly Recommended
"...The Chicago Theater scene is surely one of great strength- over the past several years we have had pre-Broadway tryouts, some of our "local" productions have been moved to Broadway and one of our area's regional theaters is so well recognized that they get the "first rights" on several Tony Award winning shows- this marvelous venue is the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire and right now they are doing "The Producers" , Mel Brooks outrageously funny movie, turned musical, turned movie again that will have you laughing from the opening until the closing and still leave you wanting more."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Given the derivative nature of the show itself, it’s tough to gauge Robin’s supposedly brand-new staging (among the first post-Broadway productions). Though it’s adapted well to Marriott’s always troublesome in-the-round configuration, this new production varies little from the first. Adkins fares well, finding in socially stunted accountant Leo Bloom a character more reminiscent of, say, a David Hyde Pierce than either Broadway’s Leo, Matthew Broderick, or the film’s Gene Wilder."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Brooks and director/choreographer Marc Robin incorporate much humor in every movement, every entrance, every costume, and every dance. It is nonstop, in-your-face satire."
