(dramatic whooshing)
- We are going to put on a Broadway musical.
(dramatic music)
- [Hughie] This is a dream of ours.
- If it's for money, you're not going to make a lot, if any.
- It would have to be as good, or better, than
the way the person described it to their friend.
- This is Land of Lola from Kinky Boots!
- Two, three, four.
- [Keith] Ah, the craziest weekend of my life.
- We've sort of been leading up to something like this.
- What we do the best is doing the most.
And if you do the most, you do musical theater. (chuckles)
(intense music)
♪ White people taco night ♪
♪ It's not limited to only white people ♪
♪ But white people love it the most ♪
♪ And many white people think white people ♪
♪ Invented tacos ♪
♪ Cha, cha, cha ♪
- That's the greatest last song ever.
(laughter)
- So, in that, what white people love,
can we just go over that?
That one last chorus there?
- Last chorus. Two, three, four.
- The Wizard of Friendship is
Lewberger's new comedy special.
We did it in Los Angeles,
we made it a whole fantastic musical.
- It's a narrative musical that we conceptualized.
- It's like, Wizard of Oz meets Labyrinth
meets weird 90s VHS. We sing.
- Us, our deep friendship breaking and therefore
breaking the Wizard of Friendship's heart,
we get sent into the Land of Nofriendia, to
defeat the part of ourselves that make us bad friends.
It's a really wild, zany show.
It has heart and it's also just a nut-so-butt-so ride.
- And we invited a bunch of people
from the industry to come see it.
And we were expecting them to be like,
"That's so cool! We'll produce this!"
(dramatic tune)
- That didn't happen.
♪ Whoa ♪
(audience cheers and applauds)
(dramatic thud) (enthusiastic cheering)
- [Keith] We made it, we made it, we made it.
- It's been three weeks since we did
Wizard of Friendship and though everyone
really liked it, it's pretty much just
been bad news that nobody wants to develop it
or pitch it with us or whatever.
- They all saw it and said, "That was good,
but I don't know what to do with it."
- We've been working a lot on trying to create
our comedy, our music and I think in our heads,
that journey was, like, well, at some point,
somebody's just going to come and be like,
"Hey, you guys should make this big thing."
And that hasn't happened.
- I was just on Broadway in Beetlejuice, I had
my Broadway debut and it solidified to me that
Lewberger has to put our show up off Broadway.
I need this experience creatively.
I don't know how to do it,
but we're going to figure it out.
We could've been like, "Great, that's done."
But instead, we wanted to do what
I think every theater kid dreams of
and take it to New York City and perform it
over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.
So, that's what we're gonna do.
- Like, this is crazy that we're (beep) doing this.
(upbeat funky music)
- I'm going to let you guys in on a little
secret on how to get off Broadway.
One word. Money.
(laughter)
- That is all you need.
- So, Steven Brandon is a theater director,
producer, writer, extraordinaire.
- [Keith] He's taken stuff off Broadway in
New York before, so he's at least done it once.
- I met him in 2014 doing a parody
musical of the TV show Lost.
- Money is all you need; talent will keep
the show going, but if you want to launch
off Broadway, how long are you guys thinking?
Like, how long a run do you want to do?
- Maybe a month. - All right. (smacks lips)
150,000 dollars.
Off Broadway, you're looking at about
nine to ten grand a week just on theater rental.
So, that's already 40 to 50K.
Line designer, line director, the sound engineer.
750 to 1,000 dollars a week for a show.
So, four weeks, again, plus rehearsals.
Signing, advertising, marketing, publicity.
That's seven to eight shows a week,
so, you're looking at 32 shows.
So, 32 shows, that's 32 shows times 100,
so, you've got to sell 3,200 seats, right?
- Okay. - Not impossible.
- Is it too late to not do the show?
(laughs)
- I have a lot of fear about the show and anxiety.
I trust in Keith and Alex, especially in Keith.
- Here's the real question, why are you doing this?
Because if it's for money,
you're not gonna make a lot, if any.
Off Broadway- - If any? (laughs)
- I'm just saying, costs keep piling up.
- Broadway has always been a dream of mine.
If I feel very excited and passionate about
something, I just want to, like, sing.
And if I feel angry and sad, it's like,
I just want to, like, rock out and it's
just kind of how I've always been.
- I have been doing musical theater since elementary school.
I did all the plays at the Syracuse Hebrew day school.
Throughout my whole career, I've had to
invest in myself when no one else has.
And so far, it's paying off, so Lewberger is doing the same.
- What would be the next, like, immediate steps?
- I think we should draw up a budget
and, like, start looking at venues.
What I can do is call up all the theaters,
see what's available in the Spring,
look at, you know, size theaters,
and get some quotes for you.
I mean, it sounds daunting and it sounds
overwhelming, that's because it is.
Because we're in the big leagues now.
You know, the higher the risk, the higher the reward.
- We are at our second theater
that we're looking at right now.
Honestly, just the lobby, just the
area, seems really perfect.
It's a high traffic area, we see people walking by, so.
- [Man] Are there any matinees going on?
- It could go well.
There's someone asking if there's a
matinee right now, that's exactly what we want.
I love this space.
- Oh, wow, look at this!
- This is awesome.
- Oh, wow, it's, you know, it's
a bigger set of seats than I gathered
from the photos and videos you sent me.
- [Hughie] It feels big in here, for sure.
- Yeah, it definitely feels big.
- This is J-5. J-5, J-5.
- J-5? Am I in J-5?
- Yeah. J-5 right now.
- Wow. It's a really great seat.
I feel like when people come to see this show,
they're gonna be looking for J-5.
They're gonna be like, "I want the seat
from the video." - J.5.
- J.5. - Well, now I have to sit.
(upbeat drum music)
- I've reached out to a couple of stage managers
to find out their availability, so,
I'm going to get back to you on that.
Things that, like, do you guys know
any choreographers in New York?
- [Hughie] No. - Are there any connections?
(laughter)
- [Steven] No? 'Cause-
- I don't really have a connection
to a lot of lighting designers anymore,
or professional stage managers,
or sound designers, or set designers,
or stage crew members, or box office people,
like, I just am not in that world anymore.
- [Hughie] We had an amazing choreographer here,
but we're not bringing anyone from L.A. to New York.
- [Steven] Well, this is what I'm saying,
because you don't want to have to put up
more people than you need to, you need locals.
So, the rest of your cast is gonna have
to be local and all your crew, including,
you know, choreographer is a big one.
- We can also reach out to people
from the duets we've been doing,
'cause we've been doing all the
the TikTok duets and everything.
- This is Don't Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl!
- And we know the words! - And I don't!
- One, two, three, four.
(upbeat piano music)
♪ Don't tell me not to live ♪
♪ Just sit and putter ♪
♪ Life's candy and the Sun's a ball of butter ♪
♪ I'm so excited to eat a ball of butter ♪
- We started doing Little Shop of Horrors songs,
and Little Shop of Horrors commented on our TikToks.
♪ You remember that total eclipse of the Sun ♪
♪ A couple of weeks ago ♪
♪ Da-do ♪
♪ Yeah, I drove to Wyoming ♪
♪ To get a really good vantage of it ♪
♪ It was fun ♪
- Turned out that person ran the Beetlejuice social media.
- Hey, folks, begging your pardon!
♪ Excuse me, sorry to barge in ♪
♪ Bacon is also called lardon ♪
- We found this really great ability
to network with Broadway shows.
We're basically making a lot of
friends in New York and then
we're going to call in a lot of favors.
- If you have a stage manager,
you've got one stage manager, then
you can ask that person to assemble their
team and then they find the people that they
wanna work with that will help support them.
Same thing with costumes, it kind of starts
at the top and then people bring in their team.
- We got to become friends with Alex Brightman,
the star of Beetlejuice.
- It really is about killing your darlings
for the benefit of the whole.
There were some bits in shows that I've written
and in shows that I have been in
that I still mourn to this day.
- Other Broadway shows started seeing these.
- This is Land of Lola from Kinky Boots!
Oh, that got squishy up there in the thigh area.
We got to dance in Chicago.
♪ That's what he's here for ♪
- Lewberger has done so much with
Broadway people, it is mind blowing.
- You're crushing it, guys.
- It was just, it was crazy.
- This is Larger Than Life from & Juliet!
- And we know the words!
- And I don't!
(cheering and applause)
- [Keith] That was great.
- I was so excited to meet you guys.
If you guys ever need choreography
or whatever for off Broadway, like, seriously.
- Wait, you're a choreographer is what you're telling us?
- I was the dance captain for Pretty Woman,
assistant director for Pretty Woman, touring.
- That's so (beep) awesome!
- Do you guys know any choreographers in New York?
(bell dings)
- Well, Nico, we're so excited.
We want to offer you the job of
being the choreographer for the show.
Is that something that you'd be interested in?
- Abso-freaking-lutely, are you kidding me? Stop it.
(upbeat funky music)
- Would you mind getting, do you
mind getting (beep) by a monster?
- No, I'd love that.
- Because I'd (beep) a monster,
and then I want it to be, like,
you're (beep) the monster and then
all the sudden you're like, "Holy shit!"
And then it's like, everyone's around you,
and you're just like, singing, but you're
getting (beep) savagely by the monster.
- I love that.
Today, we had a meeting with Steven,
and it was mostly a script read through.
- Congratulations, you've sold 324 tickets,
we're 10 percent done, only 90 percent to go.
- All right. - All right.
- Do you have a stage manager?
- Well, we're getting one.
- (chuckles) Okay.
That's the person who ends up really focusing
on the logistics of the day-to-day, keeping the curtain up,
making sure everybody has what they need.
- Steven has found a lighting designer,
a sound designer, a stage manager.
Things are happening. (snaps fingers) It's going.
- Part of the script writing process
is knowing how many cast members we need.
- We just put up our casting announcement
for people in New York to join our show.
- [Alex] Read some dialogue, sing some songs,
do a little dance!
- We're doing new photos for the posters.
I think Becky actually found some
funny boy band poses, maybe we could do.
We have to meet with a music producer, then
we'll record a bunch of stuff and figure it out.
♪ If Santa could fly down a kosher chimney ♪
♪ And place gifts beneath the menorah ♪ ♪ Ho, ho, ho, ho ♪
♪ He'd spin the dreidel with Bubbe and Zayde ♪
♪ Then pick us up and dance the Horah ♪
♪ I'm tired of cookies and milk ♪
♪ In my dreams, I'm getting fat on latkes and sour creams ♪
♪ Let's add Santa on into Hanukkah ♪
♪ I'll even put on a Santa yarmulke ♪
- The music producer engineer that
we're going to work with is Jay Markowitz,
did all the music for Legends of the Internet,
the Try Guys Touring Show.
- And then we did it three times,
and then it was almost like the song was over,
and then it was,
♪ Tiny little tickle in my anus ♪
- Like, the fade out.
♪ Tiny little tickle in my anus ♪
- I have all the instruments that
I imagined written down, just sort of
loosely pull out all the stops for this one.
- It's my dream come true that we are
playing this theremin on the Wizard of Friendship.
We started this morning with me
playing a bunch of horns,
now, the synth boys are taking over.
Our show is a lot of work, we divide
and conquer and sometimes, we unite and conquer,
but it is blood, sweat, and tears.
(yawning)
- What kind of advice would you have for us,
who have never done any theater show
that we've self-produced and written in New York?
- I think, don't lose sight of the why.
So many negative things that could,
sort of, overtake the experience,
so, as long as you hang onto the why,
which will hopefully connect you to
the joy of it, then, you know,
it's always, it'll be worth it.
- Today, while I was reading sheet music,
playing trumpet, I had a thought
and it was that I think this show
encompasses every single thing I know how to do,
artistically and also not artistically,
but playing all these instruments I've done,
video production, Photoshop, script writing,
dancing, singing, directing.
And it's a huge effort and while I think
we could be super annoyed and super let down,
I think I get super excited.
- Yeah, I've been having a blast.
I'm not anxious about it, because I have
my two best friends and I just feel confident
that something great is gonna come from it.
- We've all done a lot of theater,
we've all done a lot of improv,
we've all done a lot of singing
and acting and performing, and this
show is truly something special.
- I think I've stopped hoping that something
happens as a result of what we're doing, but
rather, you should just start producing the result.
You know, we chatted a lot with
various Broadway people to give us advice.
If we have all these Broadway friends
in New York, there's one really
cool way we could utilize that.
- [Hughie] Would you be down to
come play Keith's dad on stage for one show,
where you would just say two lines as Keith's
dad and throw tortillas into the audience?
- I would love to play Keith's dad,
and then throw tortillas at Keith and the audience.
(laughs)
- I'm always happy to throw a tortilla at anybody.
- Before I met Keith, I had a dream
that I was his dad, and then when I met
Keith, I was like, that's my son.
So, nothing would be, like, more full circle
and closing a loop than to play Keith's father.
- There's only, like, actually,
23 shows of Wizard of Friendship.
- Right. - That's only 23 hundred
people that get to see this.
♪ It's a stupid idea ♪
♪ To put on a Broadway show ♪
♪ You'll never make back your money ♪
♪ You'll never get people to go ♪
♪ It's a stupid idea ♪
♪ To put on a Broadway show ♪
♪ But we're stupid ♪
♪ So this is our stupid little Broadway song ♪
♪ Dancers and lights ♪
♪ Sound technicians ♪
♪ Makeup and tights ♪
♪ Cool projections ♪
♪ Staffers and stuffers for tickets and playbills ♪
♪ Will we have enough left for us to pay bills ♪
♪ $14,000 for an Air BNB for five of us ♪
♪ For just six weeks ♪
♪ Location rental ♪
♪ Insurance and costumes ♪
♪ Merchandise, shipping ♪
♪ So that's why it costs you ♪
♪ $96 from an $80 base price ♪
♪ Taxes and fees make it add up so high ♪
♪ We had to add a meet and greet ♪
♪ To make sure we make ends meet ♪
♪ It's a stupid idea ♪
♪ To put on a Broadway show ♪
♪ Critics will say, "your show's stupid" ♪
♪ We know, it's supposed to be stupid, stupid ♪
♪ A stupid idea ♪
♪ To put on a Broadway show ♪
♪ But we're stupid ♪
♪ So this is our stupid little Broadway song ♪
♪ It's a stupid idea ♪
♪ To put on a Broadway show ♪
♪ You'll never make back your money ♪
♪ And no one will think you're funny, honey ♪
♪ Stupid idea ♪
♪ A stupid idea ♪
♪ This is our stupid little off, off Broadway show ♪
♪ Broadway show ♪
♪ Broadway show, show, show, show, show ♪
♪ Show ♪
- It's a stupid idea to put on a Broadway show.
The economics are not great, but, you know, it's fun.
(laughter)