The Producers/Billy Elliott/Rent Nathan Lane 2007 New DVD Top-quality

Triple set of musicals. ‘The Producers’ (2005) is a remake of the classic Mel Brooks comedy, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick as Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, a scheming theatrical producer and his mousy assistant. The producers hit upon the perfect plan to embezzle a fortune: raise far more money than you need to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop and then (since no one will expect anything back) Max and Leo can pocket the difference. To do this, they need the ultimate bad play, which they find in the musical ‘Springtime for Hitler’. But their plans come to naught and the duo are taken completely by surprise when their new production is hailed as a toast-of-the-town hit. County Durham during the 1984 miners’ strike is the setting for ‘Billy Elliot’ (2000), where young Billy (Jamie Bell) becomes fascinated with the ballet lessons which are being held in the same hall as his boxing class. The ballet teacher, Mrs Wilkinson (Julie Walters), recognises his potential and encourages him to join her class. As his talent gradually reveals itself, it becomes clear that Billy should be attending the Royal Ballet School in London, but with his father’s opposition and the extreme poverty which descends on the area during the strike, Billy’s future is far from certain. ‘Rent’ (2005), follows a year in the lives of a group of East Village bohemians, artists, musicians and intellectuals as they live and love in the growing shadow of AIDS.