Mel Brooks Director says he’ll mingle with the audience at previews of "The Producers" in Las Vegas. David Hasselhoff "Baywatch" star will play the role of Roger DiBris, a flamboyantly gay director.

Prepare yourself for the idea of David Hasselhoff in drag.

And while you're at it, get ready for the possibility of Mel Brooks asking how you like "The Producers."

The pairing of the eternal "Baywatch" hunk and the 80-year-old comic legend was intended to stir attention in New York today. A news conference is scheduled in Manhattan to promote the debut of "The Producers" at Paris Las Vegas in February.

"I'm going to be (in Las Vegas) certainly for all the previews, to make sure that the audiences understand the show and love it," Brooks said by telephone Wednesday.

"I mingle with the audience, I really do. I sign a few autographs and say, 'Tell me honestly. What do you hate and what do you like?'" he said. "It's very valuable in cutting the show down to the good stuff, as we call it."

Hasselhoff, 54, won't play one of the two leads. Instead, he'll take the supporting role of Roger DiBris, a flamboyantly gay director hired to direct a musical so bad, it's guaranteed to close in one night.

"I hate to say this, but David Hasselhoff has much better legs than Gary Beach," Brooks said. (Beach created the role in the 2001 Broadway production and won a Tony award.) "He's gonna look much better in that dress than anybody ever has."

Hasselhoff is best-known for "Baywatch," but he has performed in productions of "Jekyll & Hyde" and "Chicago," and he became a singing sensation in Germany with his 1989 single "Looking for Freedom."

"I think he's going to take the town by storm," Brooks said. "I've seen him, just in hotel lobbies -- he's like a magnet. People fly out of elevators. Every woman in the hotel wants to get David Hasselhoff's autograph."

The lead role of Max Bialystock will probably be played by Brad Oscar. He played another comedic character in the original Broadway production -- Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind -- then moved into the Bialystock role after original star Nathan Lane left the show.

"I call him (Oscar) every day," Brooks said. "He told me personally he's pretty sure he will do it. We've got to work out the deal."

The news conference was scheduled for New York partly to allow Brooks to attend a table reading for his next musical, an adaptation of "Young Frankenstein."

Brooks said he wasn't discouraged by the disappointing fates of "Avenue Q" and "Hairspray" on the Strip.

"They're not funny," he said. "They're not nearly as funny, and they're book-bound. We're not nearly as book-bound. We're kind of like a crazy Broadway revue."

Brooks adapted the 2001 Broadway hit from his 1968 movie. Both deal with two producers who connive to rip off investors by opening a guaranteed flop, "Springtime for Hitler."

"It's a very happy show, it's a sexy show, and it's incredibly funny," Brooks said. "It will be the funniest show ever to hit Vegas."

Tickets are on sale for performances beginning Feb. 1; previews may be scheduled before then.