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Returning for his third round of directing "The Producers," Nigel West says he couldn't stop laughing in the rehearsal room.

"I hadn't laughed so much since the last time I did 'The Producers,' " the British theater veteran says by phone from his home in London. "We would literally stop rehearsals to laugh, to get it out of our systems. It's just such a funny piece, even when you know what's coming. You go to work and you laugh, and that's great."

West directed the latest national tour of Mel Brooks' knowingly vulgar musical valentine to theater, "The Producers," re-creating the Susan Stroman direction and choreography that won a record-setting 12 Tonys in 2001. The touring show plays at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City on Tuesday through Sunday, Feb. 7.

In a previous rendition, West directed the 2009 tour that introduced the musical to Germans. When the show played in Berlin's historic Admiralspalast theater, red flags emblazoned with pretzels, instead of swastikas, decorated the entrance.

"We're doing 'Springtime for Hitler,' a number that's a spoof of a gay Hitler, in Hitler's [favorite] theater," West recalls. At a preshow news conference, he was asked if Germany was ready to laugh at Hitler, and he offered what seemed like the only possible response: "I hope so. What else do you say?"

"The Producers" tells the satirical story of shyster theater producer Max Bialystock (David Johnson), who talks his neurotic accountant, Leo Bloom (Richard Lafleur), into cooking the books on the worst show ever written. And "Springtime for Hitler," a musical that includes dance numbers of goose-stepping and tap-dancing Nazis, seems like the kind of surefire flop that crooked producers could make a fortune failing on.

The show rises and falls on the chemistry of its leads, as Broadway saw in the inspired casting of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. A later Los Angeles production paired Jason Alexander and Martin Short.

"When you cast a show, you create a family, in effect, and you never really know how it's going to turn out," West says.

The show has been aided by the strength of the friendship between the lead actors. "Those two showed mutual respect for each other from the beginning," West says. During rehearsals, they continued to crack each other up on breaks, even when they were out of character.

"The rhythm of comedy is fascinating and hard to explain if you're not in a rehearsal room," West says.

(The rest of the lead roles are played by Thomas Slater as Franz Liebkind, Jessica Ernest as the leggy Swedish secretary Ulla, John B. Boss as Roger De Bris and J. Ryan Carroll as Carman Ghia.)

It's the first touring role for LaFleur, who is from Montreal and earned an MFA at London's Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, as did Gene Wilder, who originated his character in the 1967 film.

LaFleur says he's still surprised to find himself playing Leo Bloom, which, for a classically trained actor, "is like diving into the deep end" of the comedic musical-theater canon. "Usually, I play a lot of supporting characters and not necessarily leads," he says with the flair of a theatrical everyman, just like his character. "I never in a million years thought that I would be singing a big Broadway number like 'I Wanna be a Producer.' "

During rehearsals, LaFleur learned from the original director that Mel Brooks wrote the Leo Bloom character from his own point of view after working early in his career with an outrageous real-life Max Bialystock-style producer. The musical is structured so that theatergoers watch the story unfold through Leo's eyes and share his honest reactions.

LaFleur praises the structure of the show in the way it delivers over-the-top comedy as well as heart. "The more I read the script, what he's trying to say, the point is, if you laugh at evil, you rob it of its power," he says. "That's so profound."

The story's rapid-fire pace pulls the audience along despite the outrageous, offensive nature of the jokes. "We've been on the road for four months, and I'm still finding new things," the actor says.

Beyond the comedy of its story, West praises the show's big-spirited musical numbers, highlighted by the spectacle of "Springtime" and the tap-dancing flair of "I Wanna be a Producer." There's a sophisticated parody of a Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire number in "That Face," as Leo and Ulla discover their feelings for each other, while the whole big, messy, over-the-top show is capped by the sweet buddy love song of "Till Him," a reconciliation of Max and Leo's relationship.

That number serves as a reminder of another big idea in "The Producers." At its core, it's a buddy comedy. "Actually, the moral of the show is about friendships between these two guys, which, if you're not careful, you might miss," West says.

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'Springtime for Hitler' — and musical comedy

A new national touring show of "The Producers," which won 12 Tonys on Broadway in 2001, sets down in Salt Lake City for a five-day run.

When • Feb. 2-7: Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 1 and 6:30 p.m.

Where • Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City

Tickets • $32.50-$65 (plus facility and service fees); at 801-355-2787 or artsaltlake.org