“Luigi: The Musical” Proves We Can’t Resist A Hot Bad Boy
The internet machine has a weird way of making heroes out of the most unlikely people. The latest person to get this treatment is Luigi Mangione, the man accused of shooting a health insurance executive, who has become an online fixation. Now, his story, or at least a version of it, is the foundation for a new, sell-out dark comedy, Luigi: The Musical. It’s the kind of wild, edgy, and slightly chaotic theatre that we can get behind.
Three infamous men in one cell…
It’s a simple but chaotic premise. Inspired by the very real, very brief period where Luigi Mangione, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, and Sam Bankman-Fried were all held at the same time in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, the musical imagines what went down in that cell. The show uses original music and absurdist humour to look at corporate greed, how we consume scandals, and why we build up figures like Luigi. As head writer Nova Bradford puts it, “the show really shines a light on the cultural obsession with downfall and redemption as well as whether or not hashbrowns are the finest food known to man.”
The critics are fighting about it.
A show this pointed was bound to get a reaction, and the reviews are just as entertaining as the premise. The Independent called the show “truly excellent satire… nearly too hot to touch.” The San Francisco Chronicle seemed conflicted, calling it both “terrible” and admitting it “proves that we still crave theatre that helps us make sense of current events and envision fresh political possibilities.” It seems to be the kind of performance that gets people talking and sells out dates.
The team behind the musical is a collection of comedians and performers who know how to work a stage. The cast includes Jonny Stein, an actor and comedian who cheekily notes in his bio that he “is the kind of person that did a cappella in college, if that helps to understand him better.” The writing and producing team also features André Margatini, who hosts a monthly queer comedy open mic, and Caleb Zeringue, a finalist in the NYC Queer Comedy Festival. This is a crew that understands the intersection of culture and comedy.
For anyone who can get to San Francisco, a new date has just been announced for August 11 at The Independent, though you’ll have to be quick. The show runs for 90 minutes, and tickets are for ages 21 and over. Is a musical about three guys in a jail cell the sharpest social commentary of the year? You’ll have to see it to decide.
