Fans of hunky accused CEO-killer Luigi Mangione are clearly dying to see Luigi: The Musical, opening in June at the Taylor Street Theater, as opening night pretty much instantly sold out for this audacious original comedy-musical.
It’s no secret that Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of the United Healthcare CEO, has become a cult-hit heartthrob among those who loved seeing some vigilante justice (allegedly) metered out toward the unscrupulously profitable US healthcare system. And Mangione has his fans here in San Francisco. Some people are such fans that KRON4 reports there will be a Luigi Mangione musical opening in San Francisco in June at the Taylor Street Theater, aka the former EXIT Theater.
While the show will open on Friday, June 13 — yes, Friday the 13th — we already have some Instagram embeds to give you a taste of the McDonald’s-inspired events that make up this musical.
“Luigi: The Musical is a wildly irreverent, razor-sharp comedy that imagines the true story of Luigi Mangione, the alleged corporate assassin turned accidental folk hero,” the show declares on its website. “With real-life cellmates Sam Bankman-Fried and Diddy by his side, Luigi navigates friendship, justice, and the absurdity of viral fame.”
Yes, it is true that crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and accused sex trafficker Sean “Puffy/Diddy/Daddy” Combs are also locked up at the same Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York where Mangione is awaiting trial. And that was the apparent inspiration for this musical.
The show’s producer and co-writer Caleb Zeringue tells the Chronicle that the idea was hatched at the SF Eagle, when director Nova Bradford told him, “Did you hear that Luigi’s in the same prison with Diddy and Sam Bankman-Fried? I wanna write a musical about that.”
The show is clearly shaping up to be a huge hit. As of press time for this post, the June 13 opening night is already sold out, the next night has only two tickets remaining. There will be five performances between June 13 and June 28.
This show will inevitably stir outrage for supposedly “celebrating a murderer.” Though much of this criticism will come from people who celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse and Daniel Penny for killing someone.
“We’re not valorizing any of these characters, and we’re also not trivializing any of their actions or alleged actions,” the director Bradford told the Chronicle. “When people interact with these systems that they’ve lost trust in, it creates such a sense of isolation, and comedy inherently is connective.”
Maybe it makes sense for this musical to open in San Francisco, as Mangione has San Francisco connections, and Bankman-Fried had his house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto. But given how much national attention this show is getting, you can’t deny, delay, or depose that the Luigi Mangine musical may be playing in other cities someday, too.
Luigi: The Musical runs Friday, June 13 through Saturday, June 28 at the Taylor Street Theater. $30, Tickets here
Related: Latest Proposed California Ballot Measure Named After Luigi Mangione [SFist]
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist
