THE PRODUCERS []

At the St. James Theater, 246 W. 44th St.; (212) 239-6200

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DOES it have legs?

That’s what Broadway asks of every seemingly megahit musical – and it’s now being asked of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers.” Riotously received at its debut more than two years ago, it’s still turning over nicely (if no longer sensationally) at the St. James Theater box office.

But does it have legs – or where they only the four belonging to the show’s original superstars, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick?

Lane and Broderick have long been gone, but now, for the first time, all of the cast’s original leading members – with the sole exception of the enchanting Tony-winner Cady Huffman as that long-stemmed Swedish charmer, Ulla – have been replaced.

It’s virtually a whole new team, although a few of the players have been promoted from previous casts.

Luckily, it’s still a very, very good team.

In the key roles of the incompatible but perfectly matched producers – the conniving Broadway crook, Max Bialystock, and his shy rube of an accountant, Leo Bloom – Lewis J. Stadlen and Don Stephenson are superbly professional, if lacking Lane and Broderick’s glitterdust charisma.

Stadlen, a meticulous and brilliant veteran, gives us a street-smart and invincibly lecherous Max, while Stephenson – although he tends to imitate Broderick too much, especially vocally – has real charm and character.

But the real joy here – one emphasized by the present cast – is the inherent brilliance of the work itself.

Mel Brooks is a master. With a little joke about James Joyce here, a sly reference to Franz Kafka there, or a simple joke about sex and the Jewish princess, Brooks covers all bases.