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College Life: Bad situations and feelings are usually impermanent

<p>SWOYERSVILLE &#8212; Is Leopold Bloom cut out to be a con man?</p><p>Hmm &#8230; Just look at him, quivering, cowering and hysterical &#8212; all because a down-and-out theater guy he just met, Max Bialystock, has gotten hold of Leo&#8217;s handkerchief, which is really his security blanket.</p><p>Maybe Leo should stick to his run-of-the-mill accounting job, even if the boss chews him out for being six minutes late and bristles at any &#8220;stench of self-esteem.&#8221;</p><p>Then again, the chance to be Max&#8217;s partner in subterfuge could make up for all the excitement Leo has been missing.</p><p>&#8220;Until he met Max, he just accepted the fact his life was mundane,&#8221; said Michael Marone, of Wilkes-Barre, who portrays the mousy Leo in the Mel Brooks musical &#8220;The Producers,&#8221; staged April 28 through May 13 at the Music Box Dinner Playhouse. &#8220;Now he sees there&#8217;s more to life than rinse, repeat and pay the bills.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Leo has the smarts with the accounting and business experience,&#8221; said Jimmy Smith, of Dunmore, explaining why the character he portrays, Max, wants to team up with Leo. &#8220;Max has the connections.&#8221;</p><p>Together, the two will conspire to produce the worst play possible &#8212; with the worst script, worst director and worst cast &#8212; hoping it will close quickly and they can disappear with the money they will have collected from backers.</p><p>The play Max and Leo eventually discover is &#8220;the most abysmal, offensive slice of theater that has ever been put to page,&#8221; said Mike Wawrzynek, of Forty Fort, who plays Roger DeBris, &#8220;the worst director&#8221; they could possibly hire.</p><p>The so-crazy-it-might-work plan looks promising when Max and Leo persuade &#8220;the worst playwright,&#8221; a pigeon-raising, tenement-dwelling Nazi sympathizer named Franz Liebkind, to let them stage his musical. Liebkind will even play the title role in &#8220;Springtime for Hitler,&#8221; with DeBris directing.</p><p>So far, so bad. Which is good.</p><p>But when someone utters a &#8220;good luck&#8221; on opening night, a jinxed Liebkind breaks his leg. <em>Mein Gott,</em> doesn&#8217;t everyone know it&#8217;s dangerous to say those words in a theater?</p><p>With Liebkind indisposed, director DeBris steps in to play Hitler, and since his character is, as Wawrzynek explains it, &#8220;as flamboyant as humanly possible,&#8221; the musical suddenly becomes must-see satire.</p><p>The crowds won&#8217;t stay away. &#8220;Where did we go right?&#8221; the producers lament.</p><p>Will Max and Leo be able to extricate themselves from this Bavarian gherkin, er, pickle? Come to the show and you&#8217;ll see, cast members said.</p><p>&#8220;It feels like an old-fashioned musical,&#8221; director Dane Bower II, of West Wyoming, said before a recent rehearsal. &#8220;It&#8217;s Mel Brooks, so it&#8217;s bawdy and a little raunchy, with real genuine belly laughs.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;These guys are great,&#8221; he said of the cast. &#8220;They go above and beyond.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s very high energy,&#8221; Wawrzynek added. &#8220;It feels like we&#8217;re running at a sprint.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In their zeal to produce &#8216;the worst play ever&#8217; Max Bialystock (portrayed by Jimmy Williams of Dunmore), left, and Leopold Bloom (Michael Marone of Wilkes-Barre), right, dance &#8216;Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop&#8217; with Franz Liebkind (Christian Lynch of Wyoming), a playwright who has written a dreadful musical about Hitler. It&#8217;s all part of &#8216;The Producers,&#8217; set for Saturday, April 28, through May 13 at the Music Box Dinner Playhouse in Swoyersville. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_producers1.jpg</photo0><caption0>In their zeal to produce &#8216;the worst play ever&#8217; Max Bialystock (portrayed by Jimmy Williams of Dunmore), left, and Leopold Bloom (Michael Marone of Wilkes-Barre), right, dance &#8216;Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop&#8217; with Franz Liebkind (Christian Lynch of Wyoming), a playwright who has written a dreadful musical about Hitler. It&#8217;s all part of &#8216;The Producers,&#8217; set for Saturday, April 28, through May 13 at the Music Box Dinner Playhouse in Swoyersville. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_producers2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Max Bialystock (Jimmy Williams) and Leopold Bloom (Michael Marone) seem eager to hire Ulla (Kristina Toussaint) as their new secretary/receptionist. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_producers2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Max Bialystock (Jimmy Williams) and Leopold Bloom (Michael Marone) seem eager to hire Ulla (Kristina Toussaint) as their new secretary/receptionist. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photos </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_producers4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Leopold (Michael Marone, left) and Max (Jimmy Williams, third from left) meet &#8216;the worst director ever,&#8217; Roger DeBris (Mike Wawrzynek of Forty Fort, second from left) and his assistant, Carmin (Kevin Costley of Plymouth). </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/web1_producers4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Leopold (Michael Marone, left) and Max (Jimmy Williams, third from left) meet &#8216;the worst director ever,&#8217; Roger DeBris (Mike Wawrzynek of Forty Fort, second from left) and his assistant, Carmin (Kevin Costley of Plymouth). </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photos </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Play within the play aims to be worst ever</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;The Producers&#8217;</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Music Box Players</p><p><strong>When: </strong>Saturday, April 28, through May 13 with curtain at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays and buffet dinner starting 90 minutes before curtain.</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>Music Box Dinner Playhouse, 196 Hughes St., Swoyersville</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> Adult dinner and show: $35; children 12 and under: $25. Adult show-only: $18; children, students, members of the military: $14.</p><p><strong>Mother&#8217;s Day Gala performance:</strong> 3 p.m. May 13 with dinner at 1:30 p.m. A choice of either prime rib of beef or jumbo shrimp stuffed with crabmeat will be offered. Dinner and show: $50 per person.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘The Producers’ promises to bring belly laughs to Music Box in Swoyersville