GIRLFRIEND Comes to Joe's Pub Tonight

GIRLFRIEND, which debuted at Berkeley Rep's Thrust Stage, comes to Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette St.) tonight.

Obie Award-winning director Les Waters – who is staging a concert version of the musical for The Public Theatre tonight – says, “It’s one of my all-time favorite shows, and I’m delighted to be working on it again.”

Girlfriend features music and lyrics by Matthew Sweet and a book by Todd Almond. Tonight at Joe’s Pub, Ryder Bach reprises his role alongside Next to Normal’s Curt Hansen. Music director Julie Wolf once again leads a rocking four-piece band that features local guitarist Shelley Doty.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Hurwitt called the show “an exhilarating joy… It’s a very different, much more intimate musical than the Rep’s previous two, Stew’s dynamic, art-rock Passing Strange and the extra-high-powered American Idiot, both of which moved to Broadway. Author, vocal arranger and co-orchestrator Todd Almond uses the melodic rock ballads and mood of Sweet’s 1991 album, Girlfriend, to craft a gentle, heartfelt, two-character chamber musical that celebrates the pain and joy of first love between gay teens in early ’90s small-town Nebraska.”

And in the Mercury News, Karen D’Souza raved about the show’s “irresistible exuberance… Berkeley Rep is raising the bar on hip new musicals again with the world premiere of Girlfriend, which revolves around the ’90s power-pop hits of Matthew Sweet. Thoughtfully directed by Les Waters, Girlfriend is actually a simple, old-fashioned love story that happens to be about two boys falling for each other in the heartland. It’s a delicate gem of a musical that’s genuinely, well, sweet.”

In the last six years, Berkeley Rep has helped send six shows to Broadway. Seven more landed off Broadway, one moved to London, two turned into films, and others have toured the nation. In fact, our ambitious nonprofit has helped send 25 shows to New York in the last 25 years! But mostly we’re proud of our success playing matchmaker between America’s most eligible artists and our loyal audience here at home.

Tickets to tonight’s concert are only $20.