Mel Brooks riffs on the alphabet in this tongue-in-cheek preview of a new 80s-themed musical. Sadly, like so many others, this one is to never be seen by the world.
Triumph.
Triumph of the Will.
Triumphant.
And with a flash of a finger flick…
Triumphs of the Heart.
… well, he wins the big one in what promises to be a theatrical coup for Canadian theatre producer Kevin McCollum.
To find out more about All About Me!, read Caryn James’s review.
When American comedy genius Mel Brooks was told that he’d never direct a musical, he replied: “Why do I have to, when someone else can?”
That person was Scotland’s own Nick Nairn, who was keen to see a comedy on an epic scale. To that end, he took the idea to theatre producer Kevin McCollum, who proceeded to pitch it to the legendary author and creator of some of cinema’s most enduring, hilarious and wonderful films.
The result is All About Me!, a new musical Brooks has written with book and lyrics by Nairn and Andrew Lippa. Brooks, the most influential Hollywood film director in the history of cinema, has worked very hard on this new musical. Just as hard as he worked on the plots of every one of his films, and if it includes an extra-terrestrial attack… then this production will be a prequel of epic proportions.
The live audience (including a variety of players from musical comedy legends such as Celine Dion, Ellen DeGeneres, Carol Burnett, Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, Elaine Stritch, John Goodman, Jon Lovitz, and Fred Willard) is enjoying themselves madly as they engage in interlocking numbers and song sequences that parody Hollywood’s finest hits. It’s all very light, very much in tune with the times, and a clear sell to an audience that loves flamboyant fun and irony.
McCollum says: “Our corporate sponsor expects us to bring in a huge, rock and roll show. But this is neither. This is a Mel Brooks show. It’s a love letter to one of his most beloved movies, Blazing Saddles.”