The Producers to Close April 22; Young Frankenstein Next at St. James

Bialystock and Bloom are bidding farewell to Broadway. The Producers will play its final performance at the St. James Theatre on Sunday, April 22 after 33 preview and 2,502 regular performances. Mel Brooks' next musical, Young Frankenstein, will be the next tenant at the theater.

"The last six years working on this show have been pure joy for me," Brooks said in a statement. "There is not a single person who has ever been involved with this production to whom I am not gratefully indebted to for their talent, devotion and support during the run of The Producers."

"This show is first and foremost a tribute to Broadway," added director/choreographer Susan Stroman. "I give my most heartfelt thank you to every performer, writer, designer, crewmember, musician, producer and the countless others who have made this show part of theater history. I can truly say that I have had the privilege of working with the best of Broadway. The sound of laughter is the greatest sound on earth, and I have been lucky enough to experience that sound every day for the last six years. But I consider myself luckiest for having had the chance to collaborate with the brilliant and spontaneous mind of Mel Brooks."

The Producers opened on April 19, 2001 to rave reviews. It went on to win 12 Tony Awards, the most in Broadway history: Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical Nathan Lane, Best Featured Actress in a Musical Cady Huffman, Best Featured Actor in a Musical Gary Beach, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Choreography, Best Score, Best Book of a Musical, Best Set Design, Best Costume Design, Best Lighting Design and Best Orchestrations.

The musical currently starts Tony Danza as Max Bialystock, Hunter Foster as Leo Bloom, Angie Schworer as Ulla, Lee Roy Reams as Roger DeBris, Brad Musgrove as Carmen Ghia and Bill Nolte as Franz Liebkind.

For Young Frankenstein, Brooks will write the score and will reunite with Producers librettist/lyricist Thomas Meehan and director/choreographer Stroman. The show, an adaptation of Brooks' 1974 film of the same name, is expected to start performances in the fall following an out-of-town tryout.