Q+ A: Tony Danza

Jerry Fink, Las Vegas Sun

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 | 7:23 a.m.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS MORRIS

Who: Mel Brooks' "The Producers"

When: 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 6 and 9 p.m. Saturdays. Tony Danza joins the cast beginning Aug. 13.

Where: Paris Las Vegas' Le Theatre des Arts

Tickets: $69 to $143.50; 946-4567

David Hasselhoff was the big star - even if only in a supporting role - when Mel Brooks' "The Producers" debuted at Paris Las Vegas in February.

Tony Danza will be replacing Hasselhoff as the big name - but in a much bigger role - when he joins the cast Aug. 13.

Hasselhoff was campy and effective as cross-dressing director Roger DeBris.

But Danza must help carry the show as one of the two leads. He'll take over for Brad Oscar as Max Bialystock, a role Danza played on Broadway for three months.

Danza has come a long way since his first acting gig in the popular TV series "Taxi" (1978- 83). He starred in the equally popular "Who's the Boss?" (1984- 92). He created a hit cabaret act. He hosted a TV talk show, which ended in May 2006.

And of course, there was Broadway, where he appeared in not only "The Producers" but also in Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge" (1998) and in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" (1999).

Danza was in the "The Producers" from Dec. 19 to March 11, a month before the production closed after six years and 2,502 performances. He worked with two cast members who are now in the Las Vegas production - Lee Roy Reams, who replaced Hasselhoff as DeBris, and Bill Nolte, who portrays the Nazi-centric playwright Franz Liebkind.

Danza begins rehearsals July 30.

The personable performer recently chatted with the Sun about his career and life in general.

Q: You look remarkably fit.

I'm 57 and I try to stay in shape. You know what I discovered? My new thing - I mean I train all the time - but I discovered yoga. I'm in love with this crazy thing. It's wild. I wish I had been doing it for years.

Do you do it for the benefits of meditation?

Mainly for the stretching. But also, the thing that strikes me about it is that in the middle of an intense period I can breathe deeply and think about breathing deeply for an hour and 10 minutes and be relaxed. You know we're shallow breathers, that's what we are. But this thing about breathing deeply, you come out of there so jazzed up it's a fantabulous feeling. So I think, in conjunction with regular training, yoga may be just what the doctor ordered.

Sort of like Zen? You empty the mind?

Yeah. Think about it. We never stop thinking. But for that little bit of time - it's like I just go off-line for a while.

Let's talk about "The Producers." Are you going to play the role of Max any differently than your predecessor?

I see Max a little differently than everybody else does. I mean I think he's a New York conniver and swindler and everything else, but I see him as a guy who can't help himself. He's sort of a charmer. I make him a little bit more charming. I try to bring who I am to the part, basically.

Are you at ease with rapid pace of this 90-minute Vegas version of the show as compared with the one on Broadway?

There's nothing faster than the show on Broadway. The only thing that's different is that it's an abridged version here in Vegas. And I'll be honest with you, if you know the play as I do you , can't help but be taken a little aback by it. But I'm being told people don't know what they're missing and so it plays well. It's Mel Brooks, so it's really hard to mess it up.

Are there any differences between New York and Las Vegas audiences?

I don't know what it's going to be like. The night that I was here to see it the audience ate it up. I think it's all about the play. I just don't think you can go wrong with it. The thing with the play is you do it over and over again and you get to study it. That's a tremendous luxury. People say, "Don't you get bored?" And I say, "Well, if I can get it just right once, maybe I'll get bored." I did it 100 times on Broadway and two nights before I finished I found something totally new that I had never done before.

How long are you going to be with the show in Vegas?

I've signed on for five months.

That's longer than normal, isn't it? Most of the leads have signed up for three months.

Yeah. I just feel like doing it. I like the part and I'm looking forward to the adventure of living in Vegas. I've never done that before.

You're close to the airport so you can go home as often as you like. Right?

Yeah, I'll be going home for my softball games.

You still play softball?

I'm in a softball league. I'm going to have to make three games while the show is on, and then the playoffs. I've been in the league for 30 years. It used to be the showbiz softball league. Everybody had a team. I had a team. Mark Harmon had a team. Rob Reiner had a team. Billy Crystal had a team. Michael Keaton had a team. We all had teams. The agencies had teams. There were 48 teams at one time, and now there are only 10 teams left. They're all very competitive. Now what's happening, it's basically baseball - fast - pitch softball with bunting, stealing and fast pitching. It's basically baseball with a bigger ball.

You're a very active person. Did you have to put a lot of things on hold in order to perform in this production?

Well, you've got to make choices.

What happened to your TV talk show?

I got fired. That threw me a little bit. I'd be lying to you if I didn't say it threw me a little bit. But then I got the opportunity to go play Max in New York and I enjoyed the experience so much that when this came along I said I really wanted to try it.

No arm twisting?

No. They didn't have to twist my arm.

Do you have any other projects on the horizon?

I really don't know what I want to do. It's a weird moment in my life. I find myself contemplating all sorts of different things. I got a million different things going on. On the Fourth of July I'm hosting a celebration on the lawn of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

What about your cabaret act?

Yeah, yeah. That's one of the things I had to put away. I had a lot of dates for that and I had to get out of them.

Will you go back to it when your run at the Paris is over?

The cabaret act is always there. That's the great thing about it. There's pretty much always a demand for it, which is very gratifying because this I dreamed up in my living room one day and years later I see my name in an article calling me a song-and-dance man. I love it.

Do you have a burning desire to return to Broadway?

It's funny, you know. I've done, on Broadway, the iconic Italian part - Eddie Carbone in "A View From the Bridge," which is "A Streetcar Named Desire" for Italians. And now I've done the iconic Jewish part, Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks' "The Producers." Who says I have no range?

You see yourself on Broadway again anytime soon?

I like doing it. If I can dream, I'd love to get in a new play I originated. That's the last hurdle. I get to take over parts but I don't get to originate the role. That's the next step. That's what I'm trying to prove to people, that I can do it.

How would you assess your career?

I'm in this career 30 years. In this business you're always chasing a little bit. You get this job and hope it takes you to the next job. Somebody sees me do this then hopefully they'll think I can do that. So I basically quit doing that. I'm not chasing anymore. There comes a time in life when you sit back a little bit and let it come to you, and maybe when you do that you get to where you're trying to go.

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