The Muny in Forest Park will celebrate its 90th season with “seven spectacular shows,” including four with Jewish content or authorship, and starting with The Producers — A New Mel Brooks Musical, winner of the most Tony Awards in Broadway history, through June 22. Also included among the shows of the 2008 season are My Fair Lady, written by the Tony and Oscar-winning Jewish team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, July 7-13; My One and Only — The Gershwin Musical, based on the works of the Jewish songwriter-composer George Gershwin and Fiddler on the Roof, the all-time Broadway classic tale of Tevye the Dairymen and his daughters, who stray from “tradition” in their Jewish shtetl of Anatevka.

For 90 years, the Municipal Theatre Association, also called The Muny Opera and more recently simply The Muny in Forest Park, has presented hundreds of musical shows, including first-run Broadway hits, one person specials, ranging from The Wizard of Oz to Cats, and this season, The Producers. Last summer, longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch theater critic Judith Newmark published a sumptuous book, Songs of Summer: The Muny, which would be an excellent companion volume to the 90th season, which will include a special show, 90 Years of Muny Magic, July 14-20. Other shows in the 2008 season are Disney’s High School Musical, which is wildly popular among kids, June 23-July 2, and Miss Saigon, the compelling, poignant, opera-like show about the Vietnam War and its aftermath.

The Producers, which will open the 90th Muny season, has had a unique history in American popular culture, starting with the original 1968 movie, directed by Mel Brooks himself, at his zaniest and most irreverant. The original starred Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder as down-on-his-luck producer Max Bialystock and his “nebbish” accountant Leo Bloom, who come to realize that they can actually make more money with a Broadway play that is sure to fail, than with a hit, if they can con enough wealthy benefactors into underwriting and insuring it against loss. The play they choose is a musical comedy about Nazi Germany, which includes a Busby Berkely-style song and dance number called Springtime for Hitler. The play, to the surprise and chagrin of Bialystock and Bloom becomes a smash hit with countless laughs along the way.

The Producers came to Broadway in 200l with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick starring as Bialystock and Bloom, and was wildly successful, sweeping away more Tony Awards than any other Broadway play in history, and enjoying a long and lucrative run on the Great White Way. The play version in turn was made into yet another film in 2005, directed by Susan Stroman, with Lane and Broderick reprising their Broadway roles, and Uma Thurman doing a star turn as Ulla, their uber-sexy Scandinavian receptionist.

In The Muny cast, the major roles in The Producers will be played by experienced performers. Lewis J. Stadlen will star as Max Bialystock, returing to The Muny after making his debut last summer in Hello, Dolly! (Horace Vandergelder). On Broadway, he has appeared in The Producers (Max Bialystock), The Man Who Came to Dinner (Banjo), and Minnie’s Boys (Julie Marx). He has performed as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. Lewis has twice been nominated for a Tony Award, and he won both the 1970 Theatre World Award and 1970 Drama Desk Award for his performance in Minnie’s Boys. Lewis has made television appearances on The Sopranos, New York News, Law & Order, and his film credits include The Impostors, In & Out, I.Q. and Funny about Love.

Don Stephenson will play the meek accountant Leo Bloom in The Muny’s production of The Producers. He will be reprising his role from the Tony Award-winning Broadway production, and he originated the role in the first national tour. Other Broadway credits include Dracula (Renfield), Private Lives (Victor), Titanic (Charles Clarke), and many others. He starred Off-Broadway as Sid Davis in Take Me Along, as Anatoly in Chess, Thurio in Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Bo Decker in Bus Stop.

The role of Ulla will be played by Angie Schworer, an experienced Broadway actress.

Denny Reagan, CEO of The Muny Opera, will speak at the June Luncheon Forum of the Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis, at 11:30 a.m., on Wednesday, June 25 at a program titled, “Picnic and The Muny.”

Reagan will “share inside and backstage secrets,” historical highlights of the past 90 years, as well as information about The Muny’s growth over the last decade. The program will take place at The Muny Rehearsal Stage Covered Pavilion in Forest Park, and will be followed by a backstage tour. Members may attend at $10 and non-members for $13; reservations are required; call 636-230-l973.

Tickets are available at The Muny Box Office in Forest Park daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., at all MetroTix outlets, or by calling 314-534-1111 and charging tickets to MasterCard, VISA, American Express or Discover.

There is a convenience charge added to the ticket prices on MetroTix phone orders and at all MetroTix locations. Group tickets are on sale now, and discount rates are available for groups of 20 or more. Call the Group Sales Department at 314-361-1900, ext. 308 or 319.