Vegas 'Producers,' Starting 1/31, Cut Down to 90 Minutes

Tony Award-winner Mel Brooks stated at a recent press conference that the upcoming Las Vegas production of his smash musical The Producers will clock in at a tidy 88 minutes.

Starring the previously-announced Brad Oscar as Max Bialystock and David Hasselhoff as Roger De Bris, The Producers--which will begin on January 31st, 2007 at the Paris Las Vegas--will be presented in one act, rather than two. 

The Las Vegas stagings of Avenue Q, The Phantom of the Opera and Hairspray have similarly been abridged in the interest of appealing to tourists.  No announcement has yet been made on what material will be cut from The Producers.

Entering its sixth smash year on Broadway, The Producers is the winner of the most Tony Awards in Broadway history (with 12) and continues its record-breaking run on Broadway and in London, as well as in Korea, Israel, Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Japan.

"Like its New York counterpart, the production at Paris Las Vegas will feature music and lyrics by comedy icon Brooks, book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan (Hairspray, Annie) and direction and choreography by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (Crazy for You, Contact, The Music Man, Oklahoma)," stated earlier press notes.

Based on Brooks' Academy Award-winning 1968 film of the same name, The Producers, the musical 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 needed for a sure-fire Broadway flop and pocket the difference. "

The musical swept the 2001 Tony Awards including: Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Brooks and Meehan), Best Original Score (Brooks), Best Scenic Design (Robin Wagner), Best Costume Design (William Ivey Long), Best Lighting Design (Peter Kaczorowski), Best Orchestrations (Doug Besterman), Best Choreography and Best Direction of A Musical (Stroman).

Visit www.parislasvegas.com for tickets and more information.