Russians will romp in the '50s-style Village Theatre musical 'Iron Curtain'

A chorus of "Springtime for Stalin," anyone?

Such a number (recalling the rousingly satirical "Springtime for Hitler," in the film and musical "The Producers") does not appear in "Iron Curtain," a tune-filled show having its Northwest debut soon at Village Theatre.

But "Iron Curtain," its creators allow, is a second cousin to that Mel Brooks hit — another backstage buddy romp spoofing subpar Broadway musicals. (Though this one is set in New York and Moscow in 1956 at the height of the Cold War.) And there's kidnapping and international spying in the plot.

It's also the only tuner you're likely to see this season that has former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev among its dramatis personae.

Concocted by writer Susan DiLallo and composer Stephen Weiner (the two also collaborated on a previous Village show, "Once Upon a Time in New Jersey"), and lyricist Peter Mills, "Iron Curtain" is an unabashed throwback to the 1950s Broadway it spoofs and celebrates.

"Definitely the word 'old-fashioned' is often used by people in describing our show," says Mills. "And yet as a lyricist it was a chance to work in the vocabulary of old-time musicals, but also do the sophisticated modern things that Broadway has learned since that era."

Declares DiLallo, "If there's a similarity to 'The Producers' " — which the Village will be presenting next season — "it's in the idea of two guys trying to be successful at theater.

"But it starts out in New York, then these musical theater writers, Howard and Murray, are kidnapped to Russia to doctor a terrible Russian show, and it's kind of like [the Mad Magazine cartoon], 'Spy vs. Spy.' No one trusts anybody, or knows who is who."

Weiner describes his score as "a combination of Broadway pizazz and show tunes, mixed in with Russian-sounding melodies. And it's all in this broad, comic vein."

The show has been six years in the making, with various outings along the way — including a workshop version in the Village Originals series here, and a short Off Broadway stand in 2006 which, notes Weiner, garnered some "love-letter reviews."

One valentine in The New York Times called "Iron Curtain" a "gleefully ridiculous new musical" that deliberately makes "this nutty story about a blundering theatrical team look and sound like something from a half-century ago."

Variety wasn't as upbeat, suggesting, "If 'Iron Curtain' is going to have a future, it needs a judicious revision that doesn't work so hard to prove we're being entertained."

For their part, the "Iron Curtain" creators say they've been avidly revising the piece since then, often via e-mail and phone from their separate homes in New York, Pennsylvania and Chicago. And they're looking forward to seeing their recent handiwork in the new staging by Steve Tomkins, at the Village, which will feature local actors Matt Wolfe as Howard, Jared Michael Brown as Murray, Nick DeSantis as a Soviet apparatchik, and Allan Barlow as a show-tune-loving Khrushchev.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com