''Gutenberg! The Musical!'' is a musical written by

Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to: Sportsmen *Scott Brown (American football), American college football coach of Kentucky State * Scott Brown (baseball) (born 1956), former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds *Scott Brown (footballer, bor ...

and Anthony King. Brown and King developed the show at the

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, where it ran for over a year. The show was part of the 2005 and 2006

New York Musical Theatre Festival The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was an annual three-week summer festival that operated from 2004 to 2019. It presented more than 30 new musicals a year in New York City's midtown theater district. More than half were chosen by leading theate ...

and ran at the

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in January 2006. ''Gutenberg! The Musical!'' opened

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

on December 3, 2006 at 59E59 and then transferred to The Actors' Playhouse on January 16, 2007. The production closed on May 6, 2007. The production was directed by

Alex Timbers Alex Timbers (born August 7, 1978) is an American writer and director and the recipient of Tony, Golden Globe, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and London Evening Standard Awards, as well as two OBIE and Lucile Lortel Awards. He is the recipie ...

with music directed by T.O. Sterrett and starred Chris Fitzgerald and

Jeremy Shamos Jeremy Shamos (born February 22, 1970) is an American actor. Early life Shamos was born in New York City but raised in Denver, Colorado. He has a M.F.A. from New York University. Career Shamos is a character actor, his most notable roles are ...

History

The show was originally produced as a 45-minute one-act, workshopped at the

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and the 2005

, starring the authors, Scott Brown and Anthony King. These early versions of the show were directed by Charlie Todd and Music Directed and Accompanied by Barry Wyner. The full two-act version of the show premiered at The Jermyn Street Theatre in

in January 2006. That production was Music Directed and Accompanied by Michael Roulston and also starred the authors,

and Anthony King. In September 2006, Chris Fitzgerald and

were cast in the roles of Bud and Doug for the 2006

. That production was directed by Dave Mowers and Music Directed and Accompanied by Matt Castle and won awards for "Best Book" and "Best Performance." The November 2006 Off-Broadway production was directed by

and played at

59E59 Theaters 59E59 Theaters is a curated rental venue located in New York City that consists of three theater spaces or stages. It shows both off-Broadway (in Theater A) and off-off-Broadway plays (in Theaters B and C). The complex is owned and operated by ...

in midtown before moving to a six-month run at the Actor's Playhouse. That production was nominated for Best Musical at the Lortel and Outer Critic's Circle Awards, as well as Best Book and Best Director of a Musical at the Drama Desk Awards. David Turner and Darren Goldstein replaced the original cast. In November 2007, the first regional production worldwide was produced by

Plan-B Theatre Company Plan-B Theatre is the smallest fully professional theatre company in Salt Lake City, Utah. Plan-B develops and produces unique and socially conscious theatre created by Utah playwrights, and is a resident company at the Rose Wagner Performing A ...

in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was directed by Jerry Rapier, Choreographed by Colleen Lewis, Musically Directed by Jeffrey Price, Stage Managed by Jennifer Freed and featured Kirt Bateman as Doug and Jay Perry as Bud. The production was named 'Best Theatre Production' by Salt Lake City Weekly, 'Best Play' by Q Salt Lake and 'Best Comedy' by the Deseret News. After myriad requests, this production was revived June 3–19, 2011 as Plan-B Theatre Company's contribution to the Musicals On Main Series at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah. The production remained intact other than Sean Sekino became the Musical Director. In September 2008, ''Gutenberg! The Musical!'' made its West Coast premiere at

Strawberry Theatre Workshop Strawberry Theatre Workshop (aka Strawshop) is a Seattle theatre company founded in 2003 by Greg Carter, associated with a movement in that city to improve wages for professional theatre artists. Its name "is derived from the Strawberry Fields of ...

in Seattle. Starring Troy Fischnaller (Doug) and MJ Sieber (Bud), with piano accompaniment by Don Darryl Rivera, and directed by Greg Carter. "Fischnaller's Doug is giddily foul-mouthed with self-congratulation, and Sieber has a twinkle in his eye even as he works himself into a sweaty state of breathless zeal. Both performers toil feverishly to keep director Greg Carter's pace for the show—a five-shot-espresso-with-a-Red-Bull-chaser momentum from start to finish. The brakes are completely disabled on this speeding clown car of inside theater jokes." In February 2009 the show made its international debut at the Seymour Centre in

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. In May 2015, the show made its French-speaking debut at the Akteon Théâtre in Paris, France.

Plot

The play is performed as a backer's audition by Bud Davenport and Doug Simon, the authors of a musical about

Johannes Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable type, movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its ki ...

, which they are pitching to producers who might put their show up on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

. Because the minimally-talented and starry-eyed authors don't have a cast or an orchestra, Bud and Doug play all of the roles themselves, wearing hats with the characters' names on them and frequently switching said hats to indicate different characters. Minimal props, such as a cardboard box, pencils, and a chair, are used as well. Since Bud and Doug's research into the life of Gutenberg (aka a quick Google search) revealed that information on his life is "scant", they take a

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

approach, by which they mean that they just made stuff up. In the

play-within-a-play A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...

, Johann Gutenberg is a wine presser in the medieval German town of Schlimer, a happy and cheery place except for the fact that the town is horribly dirty and depressing and no one except Gutenberg can read. Intent on saving the townspeople from their own ignorance, Gutenberg turns his wine press into a printing press (he accomplishes this in one night). His beautiful (but dim) assistant

Helvetica Helvetica (originally Neue Haas Grotesk) is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. Helvetica is a neo-grotesque design, one influenced by the famous 19th century (1890s) ...

is in love with him, but Gutenberg is unaware of her feelings. Meanwhile, the show's villain, Monk, an evil monk who worships Satan, attempts to keep ignorance alive so he can control the townspeople through inaccurate readings of the Bible and seeks to destroy the printing press. The inept show-within-a-show parodies various musical theater conventions, such as the cheery opening number, a high-octane rock song for the act one finale, kicklines, emotional ballads and an irrelevant "charm song" about

biscuits A biscuit is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. In most countries biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also b ...

sung by two supporting characters. Despite their ineptitude, Bud and Doug's high-energy and optimistic performance of their show may be enough to launch their dreams of stardom.

Musical numbers

;Act I *"Prologue/Schlimmer" *"I Can't Read" *"Haunted German Wood" *"The Press Song" *"I Can't Read (Reprise)" *"Biscuits" *"What's The Word?" *"Stop The Press" *"Tomorrow Is Tonight" ;Act II *"Second Prologue" *"Words, Words, Words" *"Monk With Me" *"Might As Well (Go To Hell)" *"Festival!" *"Finale"

Awards and nominations

Off-Broadway production

References

External links

* *{{Official website, http://www.gutenbergthemusical.com.au/, name=Official website of the Australian production
Gutenberg's Travels
Off-Broadway musicals 2005 musicals Plays based on real people Cultural depictions of Johannes Gutenberg