A Musical Inspired by Luigi Mangione is The Hottest Ticket in NYC This Summer

By Michael Gonik

A dark comedy about accused United Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione is hitting the stage in NYC this summer. And it’s already shaping up to be one of the hottest tickets in town.

Aptly and tellingly titled Luigi: The Musical, the production is less inspired by the hard facts of a high-profile case still making its way to trial, and more a satirical imagining of what might have happened after Mangione’s arrest, when the 27-year-old was taken into the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center right here in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where he rotated into the latest configuration of the MDC’s “Big Three,” along with crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and disgraced rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs (neither of which are currently being held at the facility).

A stage reading of the show is slated for June 15 at the Midtown venue Green Room 42, exactly one week after Mangione’s very real and presumably far less funny trial is slated to begin. Though it’s only a reading, the event will mark the show’s second American stage, and third overall, in about a year, following a sold-out run in San Francisco and five performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. In the Nova Bradford-created show, actors portray Mangione, Combs, Bankman-Fried, and a prison guard, singing tunes about hash browns, soirees, and Bay Area nativism, written by Arielle Johnson. None of the performers for this slate of readings have been announced yet, but the initial runs were a hit, even with mixed reviews. The San Francisco Chronicle called it poorly staged with mid music, while The New York Times noted it’s “striking how measured Luigi: The Musical really is.”

According to Green Room 42 programming director Ben Rimalower, the venue has already sold over 300 tickets for the musical’s debut, and more dates have been added to meet demand. You can grab your stubs today via the show’s site.