Elizabeth Pawlowski and the rest of the cast of Mel Brooks’ wacky The Producers returns to the Providence Performing Arts Center this weekend for a limited five-performance engagement.

The Producers, Mel Brooks’ wacky musical about a Broadway get-rich-quick scheme, returns to the Providence Performing Arts Center this weekend for five shows.

The show, which won a record dozen Tony awards in 2001, was last in town four years ago for a two-week run, and it did not disappoint. The book and songs are outrageously clever, and there is no end to the jokes.

As most people know, The Producers is about down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Bialystock who hatches a plan to put on the world’s worst musical, and pocket his investors’ money when the show flops.

Bialystock and bumbling sidekick Leo Bloom decide to stage Springtime for Hitler, which opens with beer-stein clinking chorus girls with bratwurst strapped to their thighs. The musical’s neo-Nazi author raises pigeons on his roof with little swastikas on their wings.

The show not only spoofs Nazis, but writers, gays and even critics.

This return engagement opens tomorrow night at 8 at PPAC, and continues with two shows Saturday and Sunday. Tickets range from $38 to $65. Call (401) 421-2787, or log on to www.ppacri.org.

— Channing Gray