Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick take their opening night bows in The Producers, which opened April 19 at Broadway's St. James Theatre.
The Producers, based on Mel Brooks' 1968 Oscar-winning movie, tells of a larger-than-life but the down-on-his-luck Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Lane) who enlists a meek tax accountant, Leo Bloom (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 Susan Stroman directing and choreographing.