LuckyChap, the producing team Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara behind Barbie and Saltburn will team with multiple-Tony-winning Broadway producing veterans Sue Wagner and John Johnson (Stereophonic, Lempicka) to present a world premiere stage musical next fall from Marla Mindelle, the co-author and original star of the Off Broadway hit musical-comedy Titaníque.
Directed and choreographed by Connor Gallagher (Broadway’s Beetlejuice), The Big Gay Jamboree will feature a book by Mindelle and Jonathan Parks-Ramage, with music and lyrics by Mindelle and Philip Drennen. Performances begin September 14 at the Orpheum Theatre Off Broadway, with an opening night set for October 1.
The project marks the first stage venture for LuckyChap, whose other film and TV credits include Promising Young Woman, I, Tonya and the Hulu TV series Dollface.
The Big Gay Jamboree, according to the synopsis, “centers on Stacey, who after blacking out from 18 Jägerbombs, wakes up hungover in the most terrifying place of all: an Off-Broadway musical. With no memory of how she got there, Stacey is forced to put her BFA in theater to use, belt her face off, and figure out how the hell she’s gonna escape this 1940s golden age musical…while a live audience watches.”
In a joint statement, LuckyChap said, “We’ve been admiring Marla Mindelle’s work for quite some time and our adoration only grew when we were blown away by Titaníque. We knew that we wanted to be a part of bringing Marla’s The Big Gay Jamboree to the stage. We’ve been wanting to find a way into the theatre space and couldn’t be more thrilled for this to be our first foray alongside the incredible team involved.”
Said Wagner and Johnson, “Few things have given us greater hope in the future of the American theater than the recent renaissance we’ve seen happen downtown. We’re excited to bring Marla back to Off-Broadway audiences, and welcome LuckyChap into the theatrical fray.”
The creative team for The Big Gay Jamboree includes dots (set design), Sarah Cubbage (costume design), Brian Tovar (lighting design), and Aaron Rhyne (projection design). Musical Supervision and Arrangements by David Dabbon and Casting is by Stephen Kopel.
Full casting is to be announced at a later date.
Titaníque, a jukebox musical parody of the 1997 film Titanic, features the songs of Céline Dion and includes a Céline Dion character who hijacks a tour at a Titanic museum and provides her take on what really happened to Jack and Rose that fateful night. The show premiered in Los Angeles in 2017, then began an Off Broadway run at the Asylum Theatre in 2022 (later transferring to the Daryl Roth Theatre, where it continues to play). Titaníque won the Off Broadway Lucille Lortel Awards for outstanding musical, lead performer (Mindelle) and costume design (Alejo Vietti).
