The book eventually ran for many, many weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and sold over a million copies. I’ll never forget the thrill that Anne and I felt when we saw Max’s book featured in the windows of bookstores all over Manhattan. His next book, World War Z, was not only another big bestseller, but was also made into a hit major motion picture starring Brad Pitt.
So like Hitler and the Nazis were pretty good for me, zombies turned out to be pretty good for Max Brooks.
Chapter 25
The Producers on Broadway
It all began with a nonstop series of phone calls from David Geffen. The founder of Geffen Records is a bit of a genius. He came from humble beginnings, but because he has a gift for discovering musical talent and he found great artists he became very successful. He released hit albums from singers like Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Donna Summer, Cher, and many more. Geffen Records, which was eventually sold to Universal in a significant deal, made him a true music mogul.
So when he called, I listened.
“Mel, I think The Producers would make a great Broadway show,” he said. And he knew what he was talking about. David was one of the producers of a very successful Broadway musical called Dreamgirls. It won six Tony Awards and ran for close to four years.
“It would be the funniest show ever done on Broadway.”
It was an interesting idea, but I was too busy with Brooksfilms at the time, so I said, “David, it’s a perfectly good little movie. I won an Academy Award for the screenplay! Let’s leave it at that.”
…But he wouldn’t leave it at that. David is a guy who won’t easily take no for an answer. He called me nearly every week for a few months explaining why we had to make it. He was relentless and finally he wore me down. I agreed to meet with him. He lectured me, chapter and verse, about why he was sure a Broadway version of The Producers would be so successful.
I finally caved in and said, “Okay, let’s do it.”
David had some stipulations. One of which was to get somebody like Jerry Herman, who did Hello Dolly!, Mame, La Cage aux Folles, and Mack & Mabel, to write the music. Even though David was comfortable with me writing the book, he wanted a great, well-known Broadway composer to write the score. Jerry Herman was among the few who could write both music and lyrics. He was in that elite musical club with Broadway greats like Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Frank Loesser.
…But I am fortunate that I am able to do that too. And I secretly wanted to write the score myself, but I didn’t bring it up then. I dutifully went off to meet with Jerry Herman. The first thing Jerry said when we met was, “The Producers is one of my favorite movies of all time.” The second thing he said was, “David’s crazy. I can’t do it.”
“Why not?” I said.
“Because there’s another guy who’s perfect for it.”
Jerry goes over to the piano, sits down, and he plays “Springtime for Hitler.” He turns to me and says, “That’s a great song. That’s your centerpiece. That’s your second act’s climax!”
And then he played “Prisoners of Love.” He said, “You have two great songs already. Write half a dozen more and you’ve got a perfect Broadway show. You’re a natural-born songwriter. You should write the score. You write music, you write lyrics, and you know The Producers inside out.”
He then picked up the phone and called David Geffen.
“David, it’s Jerry. I’ve just sat at the piano. I’ve played Mel’s music. I’ve sung his lyrics. You’re crazy! You’ve got a diamond in the rough. Nobody knows that he’s a wonderful lyricist and composer, and you’ve got to use him for The Producers as a musical.”
So Jerry Herman got me the job.
I was going to create the score of a new Broadway show. Every note of every song was going to be written by me. I only had one small question: Could I do it? Once again, I confessed all my worries and doubts to Anne. And once again, she dispelled them immediately with, “Of course you can do it. You were meant to do it. So go write your score!”
Writing all the songs for The Producers musical would be a challenge, but I wanted to do it. What’s life without a challenge?
However, turning the screenplay of the movie into the libretto of a Broadway show, what we called “the book,” was a different thing altogether. I knew I needed help. So I called Tom Meehan, who in addition to working with me on To Be or Not to Be and Spaceballs also had written the book for Annie, one of the biggest hits ever on Broadway, for which he won the 1977 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. Tom loved the idea; he thought The Producers was a natural to become a big, bold, brassy Broadway musical. We started work right away.