Gutenberg! The Musical Recoups and Heads to the Studio for Cast Recording

Gutenberg! The Musical may have completed its first Broadway run January 28, but the musical's journey through Schlimmer isn't over. Stars Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad are already in the studio recording a cast album to preserve the production. The original Broadway cast album will be released this spring on Center Stage Records and Yellow Sound Label. Pre-order it here.

The album will be produced and mixed by 12-time Emmy Award winner and three-time Grammy Award nominee Michael Croiter. Marcia Goldberg and Andrew Paradis, serve as executive producers. The show's composers Anthony King and Scott Brown serve as album co-producers alongside Van Dean and Marco Paguia. Music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations are by T.O. Sterrett, vocal supervision is by Liz Caplan, and music direction is by Paguia.

And even more good news from the producers: the production fully recouped its $6.75 million initial investment. The show was a verifiable hit in its limited 20-week run, setting—then breaking again in its final week—the box office record for the James Earl Jones Theatre. It closed with a whopping weekly gross of $1,463,226.

Gutenberg!, directed by Tony winner Alex Timbers, follows Gad and Rannells as Bud and Doug, two aspiring theatre makers who have written a musical about Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. Convinced their show is ready for Broadway, they are holding a backers' performance in which they play all the parts, aided by hundreds of baseball caps adorned by character names.

Speaking of producers...each night the musical featured a celebrity guest cameo in the role of "Famous Broadway Producer." Participants included Tony-winning performers, stand-up comedians, and even politicians. The run closed out with six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald in the role. (Too bad the Tony Awards don't have an Outstanding Guest Actor category like the Emmys do.) See our list of Top 10 Celebrity Guests here.

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The creative team includes scenic designer Scott Pask, costume designer Emily Rebholz, lighting designer Jeff Croiter, and sound designers M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer. (Check out Pask's big scene-transition at the end of the show here.)

Gutenberg! The Musical made its premiere Off-Broadway in 2006 (also directed by Timbers) and opened on Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theatre October 12, 2023 after beginning previews September 15. It played 29 previews and 117 performances in its limited engagement.