What’s trending at Broadway Licensing Global? Check out this week’s most popular plays and musicals from Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, and Playscripts.
Top 5 Trending Plays & Musicals
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is the fabulously inventive tale of Hamlet as told from the worm’s-eye view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare’s play. In Tom Stoppard’s best-known work, this Shakespearean Laurel and Hardy finally get a chance to take the lead role, but do so in a world where echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, where reality and illusion intermix, and where fate leads our two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end.
Island Song (Medium Cast Edition) Words by Sam Carner; Music by Derek Gregor; Story by Sam Carner, Derek Gregor, & Marlo Hunter
The energy and passions of New York City explode with a percussive, soaring pop score in Island Song. An ambitious set of 20- and 30-somethings navigates the promises and perils of big city life: Cooper is an actor giving himself a year to get his first big break; Caroline is figuring out her independent life after a messy breakup; Will, an architect, and Jordan, a high-powered executive, are discovering how their personal ambitions fit with a relationship; and Shoshana is finding herself amidst a flurry of New York City romance. As the city spins around them and their peers, they get lost, fight back, fall in love, face setbacks, and, most importantly, come alive with the strength that comes with conquering the Big Apple.
County Fair: A Country Hits Musical By Matthew Webster & Taylor Ferrera; Musical Arrangements & Orchestrations by David Austin, David Abbinanti & Nick Wilders
After the death of their father, two sisters, Claudia and DJ Stratford, return home to deal with their inheritance: a massive and beloved county fair in rural Georgia. Thinking that this could be the cash windfall that they desperately seek, the sisters plan to sell off the fair land to the highest bidder, then high tail it back to civilization. But when Claudia starts to fall in love with the fair, the townsfolk, and an over-apologetic board member, her heart leads her away from her sister and down a path she’s unprepared for. Needing the money to pay off a large, secret gambling debt, DJ must do whatever it takes to sell the fair – even if that means sabotaging her sister’s new romantic relationship. Betrayals, imposters, and mistaken identity lead to sister battling sister in a winner-take-all Messina County Dixie Derby competition to save the fair. Loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and full of all your favorite country hits like “Chicken Fried,” “Hey Good Lookin’,” “The House That Built Me,” “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” and so many others, County Fair is a new musical comedy about sisters, community, and being proud of where you come from.
Appropriate Audience Behavior by Ian McWethy
Carol and Ashley are expecting a tale of woe as they take their seats to watch Hamlet, but the real tragedy is that they’re sitting next to the world’s noisiest weirdos. The audience takes the spotlight as everyone from a cough-drop obsessive to a guy watching the play like a football game steals the show from the unseen Shakespearean masterpiece. An outrageously meta comedy that reminds us where the drama belongs—onstage.
Sender by Ike Holter
The third play in the Rightlynd saga. It has been exactly one year and one day since Lynx went missing. For those who cared about him most, it was a year of anger, grief, and a begrudging acceptance of his disappearance. But when he suddenly comes back to town, his girlfriend and best friend are shocked to discover that they might just upend everything for a chance to start over. This stunningly frank, full-hearted dramedy asks us to confront the hard truths we run away from and shines a light on what adulthood really means: moving forward.
