Becoming Leo Bloom

One night while on stage portraying the uptight accountant Leo Bloom in "The Producers," Austin Owen noticed he was biting his fingernails. "I don't bite my nails in real life," Owen said, "but I realized that Leo does."

Four hundred performances into playing Bloom with a New York touring company, Owen said his character reveals something new to him most every night.

"The Producers" will be presented Wednesday at the Bedell Performance Hall on the River Campus in Cape Girardeau.

"The Producers" began as a 1968 Mel Brooks movie starring Zero Mostel as a failed Broadway producer and Gene Wilder as an accountant. Together they scheme to succeed financially by staging a surefire flop called "Springtime for Hitler," dancing stormtroopers and all.

Brooks was persuaded to take the movie to the stage in 2001. The musical won 12 Tony Awards with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the leads. Lane and Broderick reprised their roles in the 2005 film remake.

Producers Tour

By phone from a week-long tour stop in Hartford, Conn., Owen said he knew better than to try to mimic Wilder or Broderick. "The director said, 'This is your role. You have to bring this to life and make audiences see Leo.'"

Few actors have the opportunity to play a role 400 times, Owen said. "This has challenged me."

He grew up in Oklahoma City. He was a senior musical theater major at Florida State University when a casting director from "The Producers" came to Tallahassee for a workshop. The director happened to need a new Leo and wanted Owen to fly to New York for callbacks and auditions.

He recalls the view out the window during his first audition in New York. "The city was a huge monster to me," he said. "In the background were buildings and all these things. It took my breath away for a second. It's something you train for and dream of." Since then he's been a gypsy without a permanent address. "The tour bus is my home," he says.

Owen doesn't know if this is the way to Broadway. "There is no correct path. I'm just putting one foot in front of the other and enjoying life as a working actor," he said.

"I'm loving every minute of it," he said.

Owen has been playing opposite Brad Nacht's Max Bialystock, but Nacht is leaving the show, and Friday Owen and the cast rehearsed with his replacement, Jason Simon. The transition won't be difficult. Simon was playing Bialystock when Owen joined the tour.

Owen is also a songwriter and pianist who recently released his first CD of originals titled "Awakening." Songs can be heard on his MySpace profile. He expects to be able to promote the CD more when the tour ends in April.

The actor doesn't know if there's any particular secret to "The Producers"' success.

"It's just funny," he said.

Want to go?

• What: "The Producers"
• When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
• Where: Bedell Performance Hall, River Campus