The Producers to Close on April 22; 'Frankenstein' Follows

The Producers will play its final performance on Sunday, April 22, 2007, after playing 33 preview performances and 2,502 regular performances at Broadway's St. James Theatre. 

Mel Brooks' new musical, Young Frankenstein, with a score by Mel Brooks, a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan and direction & choreography by Susan Stroman, will play the St. James Theatre following The Producers.

"The last six years working on this show have been pure joy for me.  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. All of my Broadway experiences to date have been everything I could have hoped they would be and more," said Mel Brooks.

"This show is first and foremost a tribute to Broadway. 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, " said Susan Stroman.

The musical, which opened on April 19, 2001 to rave reviews, is the recipient of the most Tony Awards in theater history (with 12 wins including Best Musical). The original company starred Nathan Lane as 'Max Bialystock,' Matthew Broderick as 'Leo Bloom,' Gary Beach as 'Roger de Bris,' Cady Huffman as 'Ulla,' Roger Bart as 'Carmen Ghia' and Brad Oscar as 'Franz Liebkind.'  The show will celebrate its 6th Anniversary on Wednesday, April 19, 2007. 

The day after its opening, The Producers broke the record for the largest single day box office gross in theater history, taking in more than $3 million, and then went on to break its own record in 2003 with over $3.5 million in single day ticket sales.

Two national touring companies played 74 cities throughout the United States, beginning in September 2002, and grossed over $214 million.  To date, The Producers has played in twelve countries around the world.  Currently, there are productions running in Las Vegas, Budapest, Copenhagen, Italy, Korea, Spain, Mexico, Israel and Prague. 

The first national tour began in Pittsburgh in September of 2002, and the second national tour began in Boston in June 2003.  The Toronto production opened in December 2003 at The Canon Theatre.  The London production opened in November 2004 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.  The Australian production opened at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in April 2004, and went on to play at Brisbane's Lyric Theatre and Sydney's Lyric Theatre.  The Las Vegas production opened in February 2007 at the Paris Las Vegas.

In 2005, Sony Pictures released a major motion picture version of the show, directed by Susan Stroman and starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell, Gary Beach and Roger Bart.  The film went on to garner four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), two Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations, including Best Movie (Comedy), and a Grammy Nomination for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture.

Based on Mr. Brooks' Academy Award-winning 1968 film of the same name, The Producers is the story of down-on-his-luck theatrical producer, Max Bialystock, and Leo Bloom, a mousy accountant. Together they hatch the ultimate scam: raise more money than you need for a sure-fire Broadway flop and pocket the difference. Their "sure-fire" theatrical fiasco?. . . None other than the musical Springtime for Hitler.

The shwo has a Tony Award-winning book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, Tony Award-winning music and lyrics by Mel Brooks, and Tony Award winning direction and choreography by Susan Stroman. The musical also has Tony Award winning set design by Robin Wagner, Tony Award winning costume design by William Ivey Long, Tony Award winning lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski, sound design by Steve C. Kennedy, wig and hair design by Paul Huntley, make-up design by Melissa Silver, musical supervision and dance & incidental music arrangements by Glen Kelly, musical direction and vocal arrangements by Patrick S. Brady and orchestrations by Doug Besterman.

The Producers is produced by Rocco Landesman, Live Nation, The Frankel · Baruch · Viertel · Routh Group, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Rick Steiner, Robert F.X. Sillerman and Mel Brooks, in association with James D. Stern and Douglas Meyer and by special arrangement with StudioCanal.

Tickets for the remainder of the run of The Producers, which are scaled at $31.25 - $111.25, are on sale by phone through Tele-charge at (212) 239-6200 or www.telecharge.com and in-person at The St. James Theatre, 246 West 44th Street. The playing schedule is Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., Wednesday & Saturday matinees at 2 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m.