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Meet John Doe

Meet John Doe, based on Frank Capra’s beloved film, is a hopeful new Depression-era musical about media, politics and the American Dream, featuring a powerful score, an epic story, razor-sharp dialogue and an iconic female lead.

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Description

  • Full Length Musical
  • Dramatic Comedy

When ambitious newspaper reporter Ann Mitchell loses her job, she prints a phony letter from a “John Doe” who promises to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge on Christmas Eve to protest the state of society. Circulation goes through the roof, and Ann convinces her editor to hire an out-of-work ballplayer to play “John” while she ghost-writes a column. With her words and his down-home charm, John Doe quickly becomes a national sensation, and a complicated romance blooms between the pair. When the paper’s powerful owner reveals his true plans for the John Doe movement, Ann and John must confront the hoax they’ve created and decide what is worth fighting for.
REVIEWS:

"A winning new musical with an old-fashioned heart, a stirring soul, rock-solid structure, and a rich collection of political and romantic themes ideally matched to our own tough times."

Chicago Sun-Times

"Politics, passion and populism ignite the stage in the tuneful musical Meet John Doe."

Baltimore Sun

"A smashing musical adaptation of Capra’s most ambitious and controversial film… wonderfully catchy."

The Examiner

"Meet John Doe is a winning new musical with an old-fashioned heart, a stirring soul, rock-solid structure, and a rich collection of political and romantic themes ideally matched to our own tough times. And oh yes, did I forget to mention that it comes with a book and score – the work of Andrew Gerle and Eddie Sugarman – that suggests the art of the well-made musical is very much alive and well?"

Chicago Sun-Times

"A great story about watching out for your fellow man that relates to the original time period as well as to today. It incorporates big Broadway-style tunes – original jazz and lyrics, that make you feel as if it’s 1931."

The DC Traveler

"Gerle’s melodies are clean, clear and effective within a wide range of rhythmic styles and Sugarman’s lyrics are often evocative, calling visual imagery to mind and playing skillfully with words."

Potomac Stage

"A new ‘old musical’ may sound like a contradiction in terms, but that's exactly what Meet John Doe is. At first, one might wonder if we need a show that takes us back to the days of classics like Kiss Me, Kate and Sweet Charity, but with such intelligent lyrics and such a satisfying blend of hope and cynicism, John Doe is more than a nostalgia trip, and doesn’t have to break new ground in order to be considered fine entertainment… This is aided by a wonderful score from Eddie Sugarman and Andrew Gerle – the lyrics are smart and funny, the rhymes are unexpected, and there is a refreshing lack of cliché… In short, John Doe has something for both the cynic and the idealist in all of us."

The DCist

"A dazzling, jangly score by the very talented team of composer Andrew Gerle and lyricist Eddie Sugarman."

Talkin' Broadway

"Gerle and Sugarman have given Meet John Doe an identity that should speak to regional theaters… Gerle’s melodies are Broadway-ready."

Steven Bergman, Boston Edge

"There is the traditional, but comforting, take-home message with this musical that ordinary men (and women) can triumph against the odds."

Holly Spanner, The Public Reviews

Characters

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