What a long, strange journey "The Producers" has had.

Originally a 1968 Mel Brooks movie, it was reinvented earlier this decade as a rip-roaring Broadway musical that went on to earn more Tony Awards than any other in history.

In 2005, the musical version was turned back into a movie with the people who originated the roles on the Great White Way -- Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. In between, it has had touring productions that have crisscrossed the country, and recently the Broadway version closed after five successful years.

Now in an extended run at Paris Las Vegas, this shortened version of the show is competing for your attention in a crowded marketplace of flashier, more original productions, and the question is whether or not this offers anything fresh on a story that has been told a lot in the last few years.

That story, for those of you who haven't seen any of its incarnations, is about two theater producers who team up to scam little old ladies out of their money by putting on the worst show in Broadway history.

The show, called "Springtime for Hitler," is a zany romp through the Third Reich written by a crazed Nazi with swastika-wearing pigeons. To ensure its failure, and their financial gain, they conspire to hire the worst actors, the worst director and the worst of just about everything else, which results in a cast of over-the-top characters and inevitably wacky situations.

The musical, based on its own merits in a vacuum, is deliriously funny, madcap and loud, and irreverently caustic, like much of Mel Brooks' finest works.

The music, which is true to Broadway form, earned all of those trophies it won.

The actors in the Las Vegas version are all vets of the New York theater scene, and their performances here are pitch perfect, although sometimes it's difficult to tell if the characters are just that much like Lane and Broderick or if the actors doing them now are. In other words, "The Producers" is a musical classic, one you should see once in your life.

But here's the deal: Once is enough. I saw the Los Angeles version of this show, and when I saw the movie version, I felt as if I was watching a carbon-copy, no matter how nice it was to see Lane and Broderick in the roles that they so clearly defined.

Seeing the Vegas version after that was officially too many for me and actually made me focus more on the story's flaws than its merits.

For instance, it hadn't really occurred to me until this time how despicable most of the characters are. Previously, I had been so wrapped up in the manic energy of the whole thing to care. But this time, the mean-spiritedness of it came through. Perhaps that was because I saw it almost back-to-back with the imminently good-natured "Monty Python’s Spamalot.” But regardless, repeat viewings of this particular show do not seem to add anything.

The loss of David Hasselhoff in a dress in one role and the addition of Tony Danza in another non-dress role really don't change my mind on the whole situation.

So if you have never seen "The Producers" in any of its incarnations, this is an absolute gem of a production that provides you with an opportunity to catch a classic. But if you have seen it before, save your time and money.

There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes and $150 in Las Vegas, but there are better ways as well.

Vegas4visitors Grade: B-

The Full Story

• 'Producers': Classic, But 1 Viewing Enough
• Revamped Hotel Offers Great Value
• Q&A: Any News On Lady Luck?

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