Bristol Riverside Theater presents Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan's 'The Producers'

Directed by Bristol mainstay Keith Baker, the show is a delight, with gorgeous sets meant to recall the lights of old Broadway, first-rate singing and dancing, and a strong top-to-bottom cast (set by Charles Morgan, lighting by Ryan O'Gara).

Hitting back at Hitler

The Producers is, of course, based on multiple works by comedy legend Brooks. It began life as the classic nonmusical 1967 movie, directed by Brooks and starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in the two main roles.

Max, a struggling Broadway producer, and Leo, a neurotic accountant, carry out a scheme that will allow them to make more money with a flop than a hit. The whole scheme rests on the likelihood that they can defraud their investors by producing the worst play they possibly can: a sympathetic musical about Hitler.

Brooks adapted his own movie into a 2001 Broadway musical starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. That show was Broadway’s biggest hit during the aughts, leading to a second musical movie, also with Broderick and Lane, in 2005. Even Curb Your Enthusiasm took on the show with a plotline that placed Larry David in the Bialystock role.

Brooks has spoken extensively about why his conceit is funny, articulating it most recently in last year’s documentary The Last Laugh. That film’s premise is that the Holocaust can never be funny, but Hitler can, provided he’s the butt of the joke. That certainly happens in BRT’s production.

Almost perfect

Bald, stocky, and with infectious energy, Rutigliano resembles actor Wallace Shawn. His finest moment occurs during the song "Betrayed," when, jailed for the theater scheme, he sits in a jail cell and reprises the entire musical score up to that point in about five minutes.

Doherty is noticeably younger than Gene Wilder and Matthew Broderick were when they played Bloom, but he conveys a childlike wonder in the role that really works. In the song "I Wanna Be a Producer,” we see him transform in minutes from depressed office drone to ambitious Broadway mogul.

The production also puts talented actors in three of the key supporting roles: Fred Inkley as Hitler-loving playwright Franz Liebkind, Danny Vaccaro as flamboyant director Roger De Bris, and Nicole Benoit, who gives a delightful turn as Bialystock and Bloom's bubbly Swedish secretary.

Other than the actual “Springtime For Hitler” number — featuring chorus members costumed as various German stereotypes — the highlight is Bloom’s first-act song “I Wanna Be a Producer."

The only drawbacks? A few opening-night glitches, including a couple of instances of microphone feedback.

If you’re a fan of musical theater, Mel Brooks, or both and you don’t mind sophisticated satire that utilizes swastika armbands and songs about Hitler, you’re bound to have a great time at The Producers.