Meta-musical [title of show] opens 2017-18 theatre season

That’s not a typo you just read. It’s the official title of the Obie Award-winning musical by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell that will be staged at Birmingham-Southern College Sept. 28-Oct. 1.

[title of show] is a one-act meta-musical—a work that references itself—that was chosen for production for the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival and, four years later, made it to Broadway. The show is essentially about two writers writing about writing a show called [title of show]; it showcases the roller coaster ride of the creative process, and that process “is” the musical.

Confusing? Not really. Two nobodies named Hunter and Jeff decide to write a completely original musical starring themselves and their attractive and talented friends, Susan and Heidi. Their musical, [title of show], gets into the New York Musical Theatre Festival and becomes a hit. Then it lands an off-Broadway production at the Vineyard Theatre and wins three Obie Awards. Next, it’s announced that their musical is going to Broadway.

“It’s a musical comedy, it’s very stylistic, and I would call it the first successful meta-musical,” said Shannon Hickey, a senior musical theatre major at BSC, who is directing the production (her first full-length debut) under the mentorship of Professor of Theatre Dr. Alan Litsey. “There are lots of examples of ‘breaking the fourth wall’ and self-referential humor and the occasional bawdy humor.”

The set design is simple: four chairs and a keyboard on an otherwise empty stage. It matches the original intent of the show, which was to see how far one could go with the bare minimum and still entertain and pose the important questions that theatre allows.

[title of show] will be performed Sept. 28-30 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 1 at 2:30 p.m. at the College Theatre/The Underground. Adult language will be used.

Tickets are $20 for the general public; students may purchase tickets for $10 regardless of school. Call the College Theatre Box Office at (205) 226-4780 for more information or purchase tickets online at www.bsc.edu/academics/theatre/productions.