Thursday, May 31, 2007 | 7:23 a.m.
Bill Nolte has been inhabiting the wacky world of Franz Liebkind, the playwright who wears Nazi garb, for four years.
He's been in "The Producers" companies from New York to Japan.
In Las Vegas, he replaces Fred Applegate, who left to join Mel Brooks' latest film-turned-musical, "Young Frankenstein." Nolte also replaced Applegate in the Los Angeles cast, which starred Jason Alexander and Martin Short.
"It's a wonderful, wonderful role," Nolte says. "I love doing Franz ... I love making people laugh."
Nolte says every actor brings his own spin to Franz.
"That's been the great thing about this experience," he says. "I have my own interpretation, and that changes from night to night. A lot will depend on the audience and their willingness to relax and have a good time.
"Crazy things can happen onstage in a Mel Brooks play and they often do. But if an audience is a little tired or anxious to get going and get out, it's tough work. But because of the slimmer, trimmer version I think audiences are going to like it."
That's one reason he doesn't mind the trimmed - down Las Vegas production.
"It gets right to the point," Nolte says. "But it builds - Mel tells a story really well - and by the end of it you're ready to jump up and laugh and have a really good time. The night is really like a cannonball. Once the ride starts, you don't have any downtime."
Nolte, whose Broadway credits include "Amour," "Jane Eyre" and "1776," also is a noted painter. He says he'll be taking his brushes into the desert as well as onto the Strip.
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