We wanted to thank you for making us laugh for an entire year

Susan Stroman Director

Sunday marked the end of their 11-month stints in the musical - during which it became the hottest ticket in town and won a record 12 Tony Awards.

The show is based on the classic 1968 comedy film by Mel Brooks, who joined Broderick and Lane on stage after their last appearance on Sunday.

Their places will now be taken by UK actor Henry Goodman and US television star Steven Weber.

The crowd at Sunday's matinee gave Broderick and Lane a rapturous send-off, with Brooks and director-choreographer Susan Stroman presenting them with bouquets of roses.

The Producers won 12 Tony Awards in 2001

Stroman wished them well "on your new adventures".

"But when you are done with those film and TV folks, you need to come back," she said. "Ditto," Brooks shouted.

Broderick and Lane helped the show become one of the biggest Broadway successes of the last 20 years.

It had become a smash hit by the day after it opened, when newspapers printed rave reviews and ticket prices were raised to $100 (�70).

The Producers is about a bumbling pair who try to stage the worst show they can in order for it to fail so they can defraud their investors.

Henry Goodman has won two Olivier Awards

They come up with Springtime for Hitler: A Musical Romp with Adolf and Eva - but, to their dismay, it becomes a hit.

Goodman and Weber will take over the main roles from Tuesday, 19 March.

Goodman is a double winner of the esteemed Olivier Award - for Shylock in the Merchant of Venice at the Royal National Theatre in 2000 and as Charles Giteau in a 1993 London production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins.

Weber is best-known for starring in United States television sitcom Wings, and has also appeared in films Single White Female and Dracula: Dead and Loving It - also directed by Mel Brooks.