What’s the point of reproducing this Mel Brooks classic?

Technically it’s a difficult moment to recreate on a stage and Patrick Marber, the director of this latest stage adaptation of the Mel Brooks classic, makes no attempt at it, and there is, accordingly, a sense in this otherwise faithful and generally amusing homage to the original of one familiar scene following another without ever quite coming to the obvious point.

Since the original film came out – followed by subsequent stage versions and a movie remake – the law of diminishing returns has kicked in as the passing years have made audiences increasingly unshockable.

The expectation is that The Producers will speedily transfer to the West End. On the basis that it’s now an established brand and Marber’s production looks pretty good, I imagine it probably will. But that’s not to say I didn’t find it all a bit boring and a lot of the laughter around me sounded more polite than spontaneous.

Andy Nyman as the unscrupulous producer Max Bialystock and Marc Antolin as his pliant accomplice Leo Bloom acquit themselves perfectly well – and Joanna Woodward has a lot of fun as Ulla – but there is no actor on the stage who is a natural star who draws your eyes upon him or her.

Top marks, however, to the costume designer Paul Farnsworth and set designer Scott Pask who make this otherwise unremarkable revival at least appear to be worth a lot more than the sum of its parts.