Luigi the Musical Sells Out

"I shouldn't have bought those hash browns in that Pennsylvania Mickey D's," comedian Jonny Stein, playing Luigi Mangione, sings in Luigi the Musical. The upcoming 60-minute show has sold out five shows in San Francisco next month, and the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson isn't the only celebrity character. KRON reports that the musical depicts Mangione and fellow Metropolitan Detention Center inmates Sam Bankman-Fried and Sean "Diddy" Combs as cellmates.

• The official synopsis describes the musical as "bold, campy, and unafraid," and a "wildly irreverent, razor-sharp comedy that imagines the true story of Luigi Mangione, the alleged corporate assassin turned accidental folk hero," per Playbill. "With real-life cellmates Sam Bankman-Fried and Diddy by his side, Luigi navigates friendship, justice, and the absurdity of viral fame," it says.

• The makers of Luigi the Musical say they're not glorifying homicide. "We're not valorizing any of these characters, and we're also not trivializing any of their actions or alleged actions," director Nova Bradford tells the San Francisco Chronicle.
• "Luigi, as we've written him, is dead serious about his thoughts and goals," says songwriter Arielle Johnson. "There's something campy about the whole 'good guy with a gun' premise."
• "These three people represent these big pillars of institutions in society that are failing in their trust: health care, Hollywood, and then big tech," producer and co-writer Caleb Zeringue tells the Chronicle.
• "This musical, in fact, serves as a critique of these men and the institutions that enabled them," the creators said in a statement, per KTVU. "By placing these forces in one absurd prison cell, we're offering a mirror to our moment: campy, surreal, and funny, but also emotionally honest."

(More Luigi Mangione stories.)