Harry Morrison on starring in 'The Producers'

This accomplished West End performer is hitting new heights as theatre’s most loveable Nazi in the hit revival of The Producers.

Summary

• Harry Morrison is starring in The Producers at the Garrick Theatre
• Mel Brooks's comedy is about two Broadway producers who scheme to get rich quick by staging a sure-fire flop
• Morrison plays German playwright Franz Leibkind in the show

With a seriously impressive list of credits to his name, Harry Morrison is no stranger to the West End. But in the smash hit revival of Mel Brooks’s The Producers, he is getting the chance to work with an astonishing cast of musical comedy stars, and as the maniacal (and possibly certifiable) German playwright Franz Leibkind he is leaving audiences weak with laughter in this most joyful of comedies. We spoke with him.

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First of all, congratulations on the opening. How are you settling into the run at the Garrick?

Oh, well, it’s just a dream come true. I mean, we’re really lucky because we just have the most wonderful company of people. When you join a new company you never know who you’re going to be working with, but we’ve just absolutely hit the gold mine with our cast. They’re wonderful. I’m having an absolute blast.

How different has it been playing to West End audiences compared to at the Chocolate Factory?

Well, it’s a funny one because at the Chocolate Factory, a huge part of the appeal of it is they do these huge-scale musicals in such an intimate venue. So it’s this kind of blast of showbiz. We were playing to 200 people there, but they went crazy every night. The Garrick is just that, but amped up. So we’re still getting the same feeling we did at the Chocolate Factory, as the Garrick feels quite intimate — and the audiences have been amazing so far.

How did you get started in the theatre industry?

Well, I used to perform a lot as a child. I did everything I possibly could. I must have done seven productions of Bugsy Malone, which is the go-to for British kids, mostly because we get to use splurge guns! I used to go to the Sylvia Young Summer School as well, which gave me insight into the next level of being a theatre kid. I just got involved. I used to write little sketches and stories to feed my creative brain. Then I went to drama school, but I did my A levels first. My parents wanted me to have something to fall back on, although my A levels were in performing arts, dance, music…

What is it about Mel Brooks’s outrageous musical that makes it still connect with audiences today?

When they said they were going to do it at the Chocolate Factory I was so thrilled because it’s such good proof that if comedy is well written, you can say most things.

As long as the joke is there and it’s clear who the subject is, it’s good. Especially because comedy’s taken a battering recently in terms of what you can say, and this show pushes that to the extreme. It’s a lesson to remind us we need to be smarter about comedy. Mel Brooks is the master of that. The jokes are so good, they still work, and the audiences prove it because they go nuts every night.

What are some of your favourite roles and shows along the way?

Come From Away was amazing, just to be part of that movement, and it felt like such a cultural moment. We met the real life people from that story as well. Honestly, this one’s been amazing. I’ve been such a fan of Mel Brooks since I was a kid. So to do this has been a real highlight. Oh, and Assassins as well. That was heaven. And it was funny because we got to the end and thought nothing would be as good as this job, then came Come From Away…

What other West End roles would you like to take on?

Oh, God, well, this feels like a loaded sentiment, considering Beetlejuice was announced recently. I had the pleasure of doing Beetlejuice on Norwegian Cruise Lines and I’ve never worked so hard. By the end I was broken, but it was heaven. That has always been a dream. But we’ll see how life pans out. My ultimate dream is to write and perform my own stuff. I’d also love to write comedy for TV. I’m making progress there — it’s slow, but I’m still making progress.

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This article first appeared in the November 2025 issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Harry Morrison. (Courtesy of production). Inset: with Marc Antolin and Andy Nyman in The Producers. (Photo by Manuel Harlan)