“Gutenberg! The Musical!” has recouped its $6.75 million capitalization, producers announced on Jan. 29. The production concluded its 20-week limited engagement at the James Earl Jones Theatre on Jan. 28. The musical comedy began previews on Sept. 15, 2023, and officially opened on Oct. 12.
In its final week, “Gutenberg!” once again set the box office record at the Jones Theatre, grossing $1,463,226. “Gutenberg!” previously set the venue’s box office record during the week ending December 31, 2023, when the show grossed $1,280,597.
Also newly announced is a “Gutenberg!” Broadway cast album, set to be recorded on Jan. 29 and released in spring 2024 by Center Stage Records and Yellow Sound Label.
The recording will be produced and mixed by 12-time Emmy Award winner and three-time Grammy Award nominee Michael Croiter; Marcia Goldberg and Andrew Paradis will serve as executive producers. Book and score co-writers Scott Brown and Anthony King as well as Van Dean and Marco Paguia will be album co-producers. Music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations will be provided by T.O. Sterrett, with vocal supervision by Liz Caplan and music direction by Paguia.
“Book of Mormon” originals Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells starred in this Main Stem premiere staging, which reunited the original “Gutenberg!” creative team from its Off-Broadway debut in 2007 at the Actors’ Playhouse. That includes director Alex Timbers, Brown, King and Sterrett.
The two-hander follows Bud (Gad) and Doug (Rannells), a pair of aspiring playwrights who perform a backers audition for their new project: a musical about printing press inventor Johannes Gutenberg. Bud and Doug sing all the songs and play all the parts with the hope that one of the producers in attendance will give them a Broadway contract.
Throughout the Broadway run, each performance concluded with a guest star playing the role of the producer who gave Bud and Doug their Broadway gig. The final performance featured Audra McDonald.
“Gutenberg!” was produced on Broadway by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Patrick Catullo, Bad Robot Live, Seth A. Goldstein, Isaac Robert Hurwitz, Kristin Caskey and Mike Isaacson.
