About the work
The Producers is a musical by Mel Brooks (music and lyrics) with a book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan, premiered on Broadway in 2001. Based on Brooks's own 1967 film classic, it won twelve Tony Awards—still the record for the most awards won by a musical.
Plot
The washed-up Broadway producer Max Bialystock and the timid accountant Leo Bloom discover that one can make more money with a guaranteed flop than with a hit. They deliberately seek out the worst play, the worst director, and the worst actors—and produce the tasteless Nazi musical Springtime for Hitler. To their horror, the show is mistaken for satire and becomes a huge success, landing the two fraudsters in prison—from which they promptly plan their next hit.
Cultural significance
The Producers brought Mel Brooks's anarchic, taboo-breaking humour triumphantly to the stage and sparked a wave of film adaptations on Broadway. Its record of twelve Tony Awards remains unbroken. The provocative number Springtime for Hitler is regarded as one of the boldest satires in musical history. The work celebrates, with boundless irreverence, the self-mockery of show business.