A musical about murder, hash browns, and America’s crumbling institutions? Welcome to Luigi: The Musical, the runaway San Francisco fringe hit that might just be singing and tap-dancing its way to New York and Los Angeles.
After a sold-out run at the Taylor Street Theater and a larger move to The Independent, this surrealist prison satire—featuring Sean “Diddy” Combs, Sam Bankman-Fried and alleged killer Luigi Mangione as cellmates—has become a cultural moment. And yes, it really includes a ballad about breakfast potatoes and a love story between Diddy and SBF.
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The show reimagines its infamous trio not just as inmates at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (which they were in real life), but as symbolic pillars of a broken America: Hollywood, tech and healthcare. Created by four stand-up comics (Nova Bradford, Arielle Johnson, André Margatini and Caleb Zeringue), the show turns real-world headlines into a tap-heavy, morally ambiguous fever dream. There’s even a number about Mangione being arrested after removing his mask to flirt with a hostel worker and buying McDonald’s hash browns.
Despite its absurdity, the musical is not just punching down. It satirizes celebrity crime obsession and the commodification of violence, asking pointed questions about public trust and the role of institutions. “These three people represent these big pillars of institutions in society that are failing in their trust: health care, Hollywood and then Big Tech,” Zeringue told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The creators are currently eyeing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August, with New York and L.A. productions in active discussion. While no dates have been confirmed, early buzz and interest from out-of-town producers suggest Luigi could find its way to bigger stages soon.
Audiences have been packing the theater—sometimes standing along the walls—to watch Jonny Stein’s heartthrob Luigi croon about martyrdom, back pain and bureaucracy. And while the Chronicle panned the show, that review is now baked into the script as a meta joke.
“I’m noticing people have different reactions based off of their own beliefs that they come in with, which I think is the sign of good art,” Zeringue said in an interview.
Is Luigi: The Musical brilliant, unhinged or both? If it lands in your city, prepare for a night of chaos, catharsis and possibly the only show where crypto fraud ends in a tap number.