San Francisco theatergoers, buckle up — or better yet, loosen up — because one of the year’s weirdest, wildest, and most unexpectedly profound new shows is back and bigger than ever. Luigi: The Musical, a dark prison comedy about “a tale of love, murder, and hashbrowns,” is adding new summer dates after a sold-out preview run—and it’s not hard to see why this scrappy indie musical is making national headlines.
Inspired by the possibly true (or possibly not) saga of Luigi Mangione— and his colorful stint in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center alongside two other high-profile inmates — this offbeat comedy musical is more than just laughs. It’s a razor-sharp satire that takes aim at the institutions we pretend to trust: healthcare, Hollywood, and tech. That’s right, this is a prison story with a side of biting social commentary and, of course, hashbrowns.
RELATED: Did Alleged Killer Luigi Mangione Really Make 20+ “Cinematic-Style” Porn Videos?
Photo Credit: @luigithemusical
Directed by Nova Bradford, who co-created the show after scribbling the idea on a napkin at the SF Eagle (because where else would you dream up this kind of madness?), Luigi is a part-musical, part-cultural critique, part-fever dream that will leave you both howling with laughter and raising an eyebrow at your own media habits.
So what’s the premise? Imagine a locked-up trio of twisted caricatures drawn from headlines—each embodying a different crumbling American institution—stuck together in a cell. Add toe-tapping songs, scandalous monologues, and dance numbers that would make even your grandma clutch her pearls, and you’ve got Luigi: The Musical.
Jonny Stein stars as the titular Luigi, a man whose charms are matched only by his complete and utter lack of accountability. Joining him are André Margatini as a hypercharged take on SBF (yes, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange) and Janeé Lucas as Diddy—each portraying satirical versions of real-life figures with enough flair and camp to fill a courthouse. Caleb Zeringue brings muscle and timing as Sgt. Delarosa, the prison guard with a rhythm of his own, and the show’s musical heartbeat comes from associate musical director and pianist Dani Macri.
Photo Credit: @luigithemusical
But don’t let the comedy fool you—beneath the jokes and jazzy numbers is a scathing critique of how violence, neglect, and power are dressed up for public consumption. “Luigi doesn’t glorify violence,” Bradford explains. “It interrogates how it’s commodified, normalized, and even celebrated in American culture.” With references to the real-life spectacle of celebrity arrests and scandal-driven news cycles, the show pulls no punches. As audiences laugh (and squirm), one thing is clear: Luigi may have started on a napkin, but it’s quickly becoming a must-see cultural event.
Luigi: The Musical plays this summer at the Taylor Street Theater in San Francisco. Tickets are available now—and maybe bring some hashbrowns if you’re curious to see how everything goes.
A disgrace!
Let’s have a musical about the handsome guys who flew the planes on 911. Lots of good tune possibilities there.