The Main Street School of Performing Arts has become known for pushing the limits with its musicals, but the school’s upcoming production of Mel Brooks’ The Producers has something of a split personality.

It combines racy lyrics (“Beautiful girls, wearing nothing but pearls/Caressing you, undressing you/And driving you mad,” goes one stanza) with classic Broadway style that departs from the rock musicals the students have done the past two productions.

“It is an old school musical,” said Robert Thompson, theater instructor and the school’s outreach and development director. “It is showgirls tap dancing, big flashy numbers. But it is irreverent and an equal opportunity offender—as Mr. Brooks normally is.”

The Tony Award-winning play tells the story of an accountant and producer who try to make a fortune by producing a sure-fire flop.

The Broadway-style satire means the performance are as challenging as ever. Senior Chelanga Langason, who plays Leo Bloom, said he enjoys how the change of genre allows him to stretch his voice. His favorite song is “I want to be a producer”—a big number in which his character bemoans his life as an accountant.

“It’s got actual singing rather than rock-n-roll,” Langason said, emphasizing his point with rock’s sign of the horns.

Max Lazerine, who plays Max Bialystock, promised that the audience will get a kick out of the off-the-wall numbers—which notoriously includes dancing Nazis.

“I’d say that they should come because it’s crazy entertaining,” Lazerine said. “A lot of other high schools won’t do this show.”

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If you go …

• When: 7 p.m. Feb. 15 through Feb. 17. There will also be a special performance in conjunction with the Spark the Arts Gala Fundraiser on Feb. 18. The gala will feature live and silent auctions and entertainment by MSSPA students.
• Where: The Lab Theater (700 N. First St., Minneapolis)
• Price: $20 for adults, $10 for students; Tickets for the Spark the Arts Gala Fundraiser cost $100. Tickets bor both can be purchased on the school’s website.