The Producers (musical)
| The Producers | |
|---|---|
Original Broadway Playbill | |
| Music | Mel Brooks |
| Lyrics | Mel Brooks |
| Book | Mel Brooks Thomas Meehan |
| Basis | The Producers by Mel Brooks |
| Productions | 2001 Broadway 2002 US tour 2003 Second US tour 2004 West End 2007 UK tour 2015 UK and Ireland tour 2025 West End revival International productions |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award for Best Book Tony Award for Best Score Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical |
The Producers is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Mel Brooks and a book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan. It is adapted from Brooks's 1967 film of the same name. The story concerns a theatrical producer and his mild-mannered accountant who scheme to get rich by fraudulently overselling interests in a Broadway musical designed to fail. Complications arise when the show is a surprise hit. The humor of The Producers draws on exaggerated accents, caricatures of Jews, gay people and Nazis, and many show business in-jokes.
After 33 previews, the original Broadway production opened at the St. James Theatre on April 19, 2001, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and ran for 2,502 performances, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards. It spawned a successful West End production running for just over two years, national tours in the US and UK, many productions worldwide and a 2005 film version.