The words "louder, faster, funnier" seem to be the anguished cry of all musical comedy directors about a week before their latest show opens.

That, common knowledge holds, is the secret to musical comedy success. Those three little words also define Mel Brooks' "The Producers," which gets a loud, fast and ever-so-funny production by Diablo Light Opera Company. From the wild laughter heard in Walnut Creek's Lesher Center for the Arts on Friday's opening night, it appeared a good many in the audience had not experienced Brooks' musical version of what has come to be known as the "Springtime for Hitler" musical.

It is the tale of a down-on-his-luck producer, Max Bialystock (Marcus Klinger), who finds a new road to success when mousy accountant Leo Bloom (Ryan Drummond) looks over Max's books and observes that, under the right circumstances, a flop could make the producer much more money than a hit.

What they find is a jolly romp about Hitler, penned by a pigeon-loving neo-Nazi named Fritz Liebkind (Danny Cozart). He agrees to let the duo produce the play, not knowing they want to make it a big flop. Leo and Max go about assuring their failure by hiring the flamboyant, cross-dressing Roger DeBris (Tim Johnson) as director.

And when Fritz breaks a leg — literally — and is unable to perform opening night, Roger agrees to fill in, mincing across the stage in jack boots.

The piece gets funnier and funnier as director Ryan Weible and his remarkable cast not only create a hugely funny performance, but do it on their own terms. Anyone who has seen Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in the original, non-musical film version of the show, has a difficult time imagining anyone else in the roles of Max and Leo. But Klinger and Drummond make the roles very much their own.

Klinger's Max is the sort of lowlife you have no trouble believing would seduce elderly ladies to get cash for his plays (in fact you would have little trouble believing he'd siphon dimes out of a Salvation Army kettle). Drummond's version of Leo is loose-limbed, lanky and afraid of his own shadow until Max, and later Ulla (Ginny Wehrmeister), enter his life. Both men create brilliant characterizations.

And then there's Wehrmeister's Ulla, a leggy Swedish blonde who can win the affection of armies of men by simply walking across the office floor. She arrives in the office to audition for something, but ends up working as the office manager, and later the female star of "Springtime." She is quite hilarious.

Johnson and Cozart are delightfully funny in smaller roles, and the whole show simply bristles with wonderful touches from director Weible and the choreography of Jacob Brent and Mark Hanson's musical direction.

It's a high-quality hilarious production through and through, and a great way for DLOC to launch its second half-century of producing musicals.