Gutenberg! The Musical on Broadway Tickets

By: Scott Brown and Anthony King
Songs by: Scott Brown and Anthony King
Director: Alex Timbers
Cast list: Andrew Rannells, Josh Gad
Design: Scott Pask
Costumes: Emily Rebholz
Lighting: Jeff Croiter
Sound: Cody Spencer & M.L. Dogg

Gutenberg! The Musical!, written by Scott Brown and Anthony King, is a comedy about two friends, Bud and Doug. The buddies are writing a musical comedy about Johannes Gutenberg, who founded the printing press in 1448. While the pair are overly enthusiastic about the project, they fill their show about Gutenberg with historical inaccuracies and fabricated details.

The show is framed as a backers audition. Bud and Doug are pitching their big musical comedy about Gutenberg to Broadway producers, but they don’t have a cast or an orchestra. Instead, the two portray all the characters, using various props and costumes to comedic effect.

Brown and King developed Gutenberg! The Musical! with the comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade in the early 2000s. The musical was presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2005 and 2006 and had subsequent productions at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London and 59E59 Theaters and The Actors’ Playhouse in New York City.

What to watch for

• Gutenberg! The Musical! marks Gad’s first return to the stage since The Book of Mormon, but Rannells has appeared in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hamilton, Falsettos, and The Boys in the Band since then.
• Alex Timbers directed the Off-Broadway run of Gutenberg! The Musical! and returns to the Broadway production. Timbers has several Broadway credits, including Here Lies Love, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Beetlejuice, Rocky, and Peter and the Starcatcher, among others.
• Co-writers Scott Brown and Anthony King played the lead roles in the first workshop productions of Gutenberg! The Musical in New York. The show began as a 45-minute one-act.
• The Off-Broadway production of Gutenberg! The Musical! was nominated for Best Musical at the Lucille Lortel Awards and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and Best Book of a Musical and Best Director of a Musical at the Drama Desk Awards.
• The musical has been produced in Utah, Washington, Massachusetts, and abroad in Australia, France, and Spain.

Please Note

This production uses flashing lights and theatrical haze. The use of cameras, cell phones, and other recording devices during the show is strictly prohibited by law, except when used for accessibility services. No weapons permitted on the premesis. No outside food or beverages, electric scooters, e-bikes, or battery-powered transportation devices, except when medically necessary. All items are subject to inspection and must fit on your lap or completely under your seat without blocking any aisles.