# The Producers, new stage version. Who played "Hitler" in Springtime for Hitler?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 18, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374 "2002-04-18T19:45:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374/1 "2002-04-18T19:45:18Z")
(If you haven’t seen the play or movie, it’s probably best if you just move along. It won’t make any sense to you).
_The Producers_ is one of my favorite movies. The last time I watched it on TCM, the narrator came on afterwards and said that in the live theater production that was recently performed on Broadway, the character L.S.D. had been omitted as being too rooted in the 1960’s.
I can see their point in a way. The “L.S.D.” character, who played Hitler in the play-within-the-play in the movie, _is_ certainly very much a product of the Sixties, when the original movie was made. At the same time, I’m a little disappointed. Even if the character, as a “hippie” was outmoded, is there an underlying characterization of being cool, avant-garde, and countercultural which is timeless? I think they should have exploited that.
But anyway, who did play Hitler in _Springtime for Hitler_?
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374/2 "2002-04-18T20:00:48Z")
If you mean, who’s playing Hitler in the current Broadway musical version of “The Producers,” it’s Gary Beach. I haven’t seen the show, but from what I’ve read, he plays der Fuhrer as a campy drag queen, rather than as a hippie.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2002, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374/3 "2002-04-18T20:04:34Z")
Thanks, **Astorian**. It sounds like they used the campy character who directs the play in the movie.
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### Author:  [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2002, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374/4 "2002-04-18T22:01:52Z")
oh man, that cant be true. dick shawn is the funniest person in that movie, and thats going some.
where’s my goebbels? where’s my little joey?
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### Author:  [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374/5 "2002-04-18T22:04:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by javaman \*
> \*\*Thanks, **Astorian**. It sounds like they used the campy character who directs the play in the movie. \*\*
Actually, they did.
(spoilers to follow)
The playwright, Franz Liebkind, wins the part of Hitler after his rousing audition of _Haben Sie Gehort das Deutshe Band?_, but then breaks his leg on opening night, so the director, Roger de Bris fills in for him.
And history is made.
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### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374/6 "2002-04-18T22:18:35Z")
As **Essvee** said, it was the delightful _Dick Shawn_. He was also great in **It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World**.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2002, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-producers-new-stage-version-who-played-hitler-in-springtime-for-hitler/104374/7 "2002-04-19T04:04:33Z")
And the actor who played Franz Liebkind (Brad Oscar) will be taking over the role of Max Bialystock after they fired the replacement for Nathan Lane. He was Lane’s understudy and has done the role a lot while NL was having throat problems. Looks like they’ll be casting a new Liebkind.
Roger De Bris is played by Gary Beach.