The Birth of Busted Broadway™

A few hours before opening night of Spring Awakening in 2017, I was sitting at my keyboard on stage, chatting with the drummer and director about new musicals, the shows I had lined up to music direct, and the state of the Broadway industry. It felt like musicals were losing the plot, with excellent music and storytelling becoming increasingly elusive.

After all, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical opened that year with 21 different artists and songwriters contributing to the show's score.

I turned to my drummer and said, "It seems anything can be a musical today if you just slap the words The Musical after some ridiculous title."

That's when Abstinence the Musical popped into my head.

Everyone agreed it was a hysterical title, but they also pointed out that Broadway had evolved into such an absurd place that Abstinence the Musical sounded completely believable. I went home, drafted a demo of the opening number, and realized that an entire album of subversive opening numbers from fictitious musicals could be something genuinely entertaining.

Fast forward to COVID. After years of being subjected to absurd titles like Grindr: The Musical, Emojiland, and (wait for it)... Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical, I decided enough was enough and created Busted Broadway™.

Growing up on comedians like George Carlin, Louis C.K., Katt Williams, Larry the Cable Guy, Gallagher, Ron White, and Lewis Black (just to name a few), I always felt that level of irreverence was missing from the Broadway milieu.

Yes... The Book of Mormon goes there.

And Busted Broadway™ will, too…