Note:
In 1959, following the flop of the theatrical musical Funny Boy (based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet) (Opening Night), the show’s washed-up producer, Max Bialystock, hires the neurotic Leo Bloom as his accountant. While studying Max’s books, Leo notes that as a flop is expected to lose money, the IRS will not investigate the finances of failed productions. Leo jests that by selling an excess of shares and embezzling the funds, a flop could generate up to $2 million. Max asks for Leo’s help with the scheme, only for the latter to refuse (We Can Do It).
Returning to his old accounting firm, Leo starts fantasizing about being a Broadway producer (I Wanna Be a Producer). Leo quits his job and forms Bialystock & Bloom with Max. Searching for the worst play ever written, the duo finds Springtime for Hitler, a musical written by an ex-Nazi named Franz Liebkind. Max and Leo, in order to acquire Franz’s rights to the musical, perform Hitler’s favorite song and swear the sacred Siegfried Oath to him (Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop)... |
