Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumnus Michael Matthews ’99 — a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting and recipient of the 2016 Milton Katselas Award for career achievement in directing from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle — is the director of a new Los Angeles production of the hit musical The Producers, opening June 28 at Celebration Theatre, Los Angeles’ historic LGBTQ theatre company.

The production runs through August 12 at the Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington, Los Angeles. The cast includes Celebration Theatre’s artistic director Michael A. Shepperd, a former Columbia College Theatre Department student, who plays Broadway director Roger De Bris. For tickets, click here.

The 2001 musical, with music and lyrics by Mel Brooks and a book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan, concerns a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant. When the two come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in showbiz history, things go awry when the show is a hit.

As previously reported in this blog, Shepperd and Matthews cohosted a Columbia Theatre Alumni Social for alumni and former students of the Columbia College Theatre Department at Celebration Theatre on February 20, 2019. The event was organized by Columbia College Chicago’s Development and Alumni Relations office in cooperation with Celebration Theatre.