Director-choreographer Susan Stroman, Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan take their opening night bow at The Producers April 19. Tony winner Stroman crafted the dances and staging; Brooks, screenwriter of the same-titled film, also composed the score; and Meehan, the librettist behind Annie, co-wrote the book. The Producers, based on Brooks' 1968 Oscar-winning movie, tells of a larger-than-life but the down-on-his-luck Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) who enlists a meek tax accountant, Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick), to help him get back on top. The scheme is not to mount a hit play but to raise a lot of money, produce a great stinking flop, and then disappear before paying back the investors. What better choice for a disaster than "Springtime For Hitler," a dramatic love-letter to Der Furher penned by a German lunatic (Brad Oscar) living in a tenement? After securing the property, Max and Leo add a flamboyant director (Gary Beach) to all-but-ensure that "Springtime For Hitler" will be excruciatingly bad. Only it turns out, it's so bad, it's funny - and a hit. Brooks wrote the score with Tony winner Stroman directing and choreographing.