Review Roundup: THE UNTITLED UNAUTHORIZED HUNTER S. THOMPSON MUSICAL at La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse's world-premiere production of The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical has officially opened! The musical features music and lyrics by Joe Iconis (Be More Chill), book by Joe Iconis and Gregory S. Moss, and is choreographed by Jon Rua (Playhouse’s Hands on a Hardbody) and directed by Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse (Come From Away).

Performances run through October 1 in the Playhouse’s Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

The cast features George Abud (Playhouse’s Lempicka) as “Nixon,” Jeannette Bayardelle (Playhouse’s Freaky Friday) as “Jann,” Giovanny Diaz de Leon as “The Kid,” Gabriel Ebert as “Hunter,” Marcy Harriell as “Sandy,” Lorinda Lisitza as “Virginia,” Lauren Marcus as “Flower Child,” George Salazar as “Oscar,” Ryan Vona as “Juan,” Jason SweetTooth Williams (Playhouse’s Freaky Friday) as “Ralph,” along with understudies Summer Broyhill, Josiah Cajudo and Kürt Norby.

Read the reviews below!

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ErinMarie Reiter, BroadwayWorld: Ebert as Thompson is quirky, funny, and grandiose as each occasion calls for.  Wearing signature items like his sunglasses and Hawaiian shirts, deep down there are still glimpses of the vulnerability that is covered up by his bravado and bluster.  He is an ego-driven anti-hero, who is always looking for freedom to be himself but becomes trapped by the character of himself that he becomes.

Katie Pack, San Diego Magazine: Gabriel Ebert gives a knockout performance as Thompson, capturing the energy of his youth, his struggles to balance life and the party, his intense yearning for greatness, and, finally, Thompson in his final stage, grappling with what his legacy is. Marcy Harriell portrays Hunter’s wife Sandy and wows as the woman behind the man, shedding light on her unseen labor and devotion and the abuse she faced throughout her marriage. Together with the rest of the cast, they grapple with the line where passion meets destruction.

Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune: Although the writer Thompson is a train wreck in this show, the musical is not. It’s well-directed, well-designed and well-performed, and it entertains. But whether Thompson emerges better understood and more appreciated by the end is not clear.

Evan Henerson, BroadwayWorld: t is, to repeat, quite the ride. There are narrative diversions, the occasional broken fourth wall, and weird stuff emerging from nowhere, all set to the tune of a rocking, literate score led by Rick Edinger. Ashley, the Playhouse’s Artistic Director, has never been one to shy away from being adventurous with his musical theater offerings (MEMPHIS and COME FROM AWAY leap most immediately to mind) and La Jolla Playhouse audiences have been fortunate to see many of them first.  THE UNTITLED UNAUTHORIZED HUNTER S. Thompson MUSICAL seems fated to head east, particularly if Ebert (a Tony winner for MATILDA: THE MUSICAL) goes with it.

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