The PA Shakespeare Festival has produced a huge hit.

It’s ironic since the hit is a musical comedy about a mythical worst show in Broadway history.

“The Producers,” through June 29, PA Shakespeare Festival (PSF) Summer Theatre Series, Main Stage, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, is one of the best musicals ever produced at PSF, the Lehigh Valley’s gold-standard for summer theater.

The June 13 opening night performance was seen for this review.

PSF’s “The Producers” is not only side-splittingly funny, it’s one of the best productions ever to hit the Lehigh Valley stage.

Every aspect of PSF’s “The Producers” deserves superlatives, from the staging by Scenic Designer David P. Gordon and Lighting Designer Mike Inwood, to the gorgeous costumes by Costume Coordinator Rebecca R. Callan, to the sparkling 11-piece orchestra by Music Director Chris Burcheri and Sound Designer Damien Figueras, to the spectacular dancing of the 14-person Ensemble by Choreographer Tara Jeanne Vallee with Dance Captain Shane Hall, to the overall spot-on, in-the-moment, meticulous direction by Director Jennifer Childs.

“The Producers,” with book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks, is based on the classic 1967 movie of the same title written, directed and produced by Brooks (Oscar, original screenplay, “The Producers,” Brooks’ feature movie directorial debut). The 2001 Broadway musical of the same title received a record 12 Tony Awards. A 2005 film version was based on the Broadway musical.

“The Producers,” which takes place in 1959, is about Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Scott Greer) and accountant Leo Bloom (Michael Doherty), who scheme to produce a Broadway flop and abscond with the investors’ money.

They choose “Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden,” written by former Nazi soldier Franz Liebkind (Anthony Lawton), torn away from his beloved rooftop pigeons (cleverly represented as puppets by Puppet Designer Angel D’Andria).

Bialystock and Bloom hire director Roger DeBris (Jamison Stern), assisted by Carmen Ghia (Robi Hager). With their production underway, Bialystock and Bloom hire Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson (Nicole Benoit) as their office assistant.

The humor in “The Producers” is all Mel Brooks, who will be 99 on June 28. Brooks was born Melvin James Kaminsky in 1926 in Brooklyn, N.Y. His father’s family was German Jews who lived in Poland. His mother was a Ukrainian Jew who emigrated from Kiev to the United States.

We mention Brooks’ pedigree because the comedy in “The Producers” is an equal-opportunity offender. Jews, gays, Germans, show girls, elderly women, and the very fabric of Broadway show business are targets of Brooks’ ribald, bawdy and often tasteless humor. You will laugh, and laugh loudly, even snort-laugh, in spite of yourself.

Brooks has the right to laugh, and to make us laugh. Brooks has been at the center of American comedy for three-quarters of a century.

Brooks, a World War II Army corporal and veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, was a tummler (someone who makes a racket: a jester, entertainer, emcee) at Grossinger’s in the Borscht Belt in the Catskills, N.Y.; a writer on Sid Caesar’s popular TV show, “Your Show of Shows” (1950-1954); performer with Carl Reiner on “The 2000 Year Old Man” comedy albums (1961, 1962); creator with Buck Henry of the spy spoof TV show, “Get Smart” (1965-1970), and director of successful parody movies: “The Producers” (1967), “Blazing Saddles” (1974), “Young Frankenstein” (1974), ”Silent Movie” (1976), “High Anxiety” (1977) and “Spaceballs” (1987).

In PSF’s production of “The Producers,” the actors play it straight. That’s why it’s so hilarious.

The center of the show is a two-hander.

Scott Greer creates a sufficiently over-stuffed egotistical yet charming Broadway producer in his portrayal of Max Bialystock.

Michael Doherty portrays a twitchy, intense, adorable Leo Bloom whose body is ever in motion.

Greer and Doherty are zingy in “We Can Do It” and “Where Did We Go Right.”

Into their madcap maelstrom is thrust Nicole Benoit as Ulla, whose legs seem to kick up into the upper reaches of the proscenium stage. Benoit’s rendition of “When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It” is a show-stopper.

Adding to the shenanigans is a memorable trio: Anthony Lawton as Franz Liebkind, the hapless Hitler wannabe; Jamison Stern as Roger DeBris, the flamboyant director, and his partner in crimes against fashion, Robi Hager as Carmen Ghia.

Lawton, Greer and Doherty team up for the supremely silly “Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop.”

If you’re a fan of Mel Brooks, looking for a stunning evening or matinee of summer theater and want to laugh your tuchus off, don’t miss “The Producers” at the PA Shakespeare Festival.

“The Producers,” 7:30 p.m. June 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27; 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m. June 14, 18, 28; 2 p.m. June 15, 21. 22, 29; 6:30 p.m. June 17, 24, PA Shakespeare Festival, Main Stage Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley. 610-282-9455, https://pashakespeare.org/