Flinn, Denny Martin, Musical! A Grand Tour, Schirmer Books, 1997.

Examining the history and different styles of stage musicals, Flinn ends his survey with the 1995—96 season, in despair that the era of Broadway musicals was over (a situation that The Producers was instrumental in changing).

Hofler, Robert, "Broadway Tuner Has the Reich Stuff," in Variety, April 16, 2001, p. 1.

Hofler's article, from the show-business trade paper Variety, examines the coming sensation of The Producers weeks before it even reached Broadway.

Holtzman, William, Seesaw: A Dual Biography of Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks, Doubleday, 1979.

Not much has been written at length about Brooks's life, but this book, covering his early years with his wife, gives a good sense of the private man.

Jones, John Bush, Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theatre, Brandeis University Press, 2003.

This book is exhaustive in its understanding of the...