Leo is afraid such a criminal venture will fail and they will go to prison, but Max eventually convinces him that his drab existence is no better than prison.Īfter reading many bad plays, the partners find the obvious choice for their scheme: Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden. No one audits the books of a play presumed to have lost money, thus avoiding a pay-out and leaving the duo free to flee to Rio de Janeiro with the profits. They will over-sell shares again, but on a much larger scale, and produce a play that will close on opening night. Max immediately puts this scheme into action. Max persuades Leo to hide the relatively minor fraud, and, while shuffling numbers, Leo has a revelation: a producer could make a lot more money with a flop than a hit.
Accountant Leopold 'Leo' Bloom arrives at Max's office to do his books and discovers there is a $2,000 overcharge in the accounts of Max's last play because he raised more money than he could repay by selling more than 100% of the shares in the potential profits. Max Bialystock is a washed-up, aging, and also fraud and corruptible greedy Broadway producer who ekes out a living romancing lascivious wealthy elderly women in exchange for money for his next play.
