The Producers’ tells the story of a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer, Max Bialystock, and a nerdy, young accountant, Leo Bloom, who concoct a scheme to raise thousands of dollars from backers and then put on a flop of a show.
Bialystock is a once-successful Broadway producer in the middle of a dry spell. His accountant Bloom tallies the numbers of their current flop. Devious Max realizes he could make more money by producing a deliberate flop and over-selling a piece of the action to unsuspecting investors.
Bialystock finds an incredibly offensive script, “Springtime for Hitler” written by an ex-Nazi and begins to seduce his backers—all little old ladies—out of millions of dollars. He auditions and hires bad actors and a bad director, and even tells the actor who plays Hitler to “gay it up.”
In the first minutes of “Springtime for Hitler,” members of the outraged audience start walking out. Then the Hitler character takes the stage, and people decide the play is a funny satire. Miraculously “Springtime for Hitler” is a huge success. But this hilarious cult comedy doesn’t stop there. The rest of the story involves the IRS, tax fraud, prison time, and a happy ending.
With a truly hysterical book co-written by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan (Annie) and music and lyrics by Mr. Brooks , The Producers skewers Broadway traditions and takes no prisoners as it proudly proclaims itself an “equal opportunity offender!” The show took Broadway by storm in 2001, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards and three Olivier Awards.
