“When they sing and dance, I like them the most, because they're not reminding me of anything from 1968. When Uma Thurman refers to herself in the third person as ‘Ulla’ and describes the high standards of her low conduct, she achieves a kind of joy of performance that deserves to be seen without Meredith standing just offstage tapping her toe.
The story itself is a great construction. Mel Brooks wrote an original screenplay whose characters are driven by greed, need, neurosis, cheerfully shameful sexual behavior and a deep cynicism about show business. It is a tribute to his work that it could be transferred virtually intact to the musical stage 35 years later and effortlessly become a historic hit.
It was fun, it was funny, it was alive. There is a moment when Max Bialystock, as the con-man producer, promises wealth and triumph to Leo Bloom, the nervous accountant who has cooked up their crooked financing, and a fountain erupts on cue behind him. In 1968, it was the fountain at Lincoln Center; now it's one in Central Park.”