It’s not a bad thing—Mel Brooks wrote a catchy tune. “Springtime for Hitler and Germany. Deutschland is happy and gay!” It’s been lodged in my head since opening night of The Producers at Village Theatre, a big, bawdy, glitzy production—one of the biggest in the theater’s history—that’s my guilty pleasure of the week.

Before The Book of Mormon was the most gleefully offensive musical on Broadway, Brooks and Thomas Meehan’s The Producers was the champion—with a record-setting 12 Tonys to prove it. It starred Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane as scheming producers trying to craft the biggest bomb in theater history (a neo-Nazi musical!), close in one night, and run off with the investors’ cash. (Nowadays, we’d call this “Madoffing with your money.” Ohhh.) The Producers was—is—vintage Brooks satire with ribald T&A gags and a tap-dancing Fuehrer, and Village Theatre hits all the right notes with its production. Credit director Steve Tompkins with putting together a talented ensemble cast of VT regulars—notably Richard Gray as sleazy producer Max Bialystock and Nick DeSantis as a flamboyantly gay Adolf—and newcomers, and knowing the magic of a giant, glittering, swirling swastika.

The Producers
Thru July 1 at Village Theatre (Issaquah), $27–$62
July 6–29, Everett Performing Arts Center