LIZARD BOY to Host Pride Night, AANHPI Night & More

Prospect Theater Company has announced a calendar of special events for the New York premiere of the award-winning new indie-rock musical Lizard Boy, with book, music and lyrics by Justin Huertas (Marvel’s Squirrel Girl), direction by Brandon Ivie (Prospect’s Jasper in Deadland), and music direction by Steven Tran (Marvel’s Squirrel Girl). Preview performances are set to begin on Thursday, June 1st at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street), with an opening night set for Wednesday, June 14th. The strictly limited engagement is set to run through Saturday, July 1st, 2023.

Friday, June 2 - Pride Night at Lizard Boy

Kick off Pride month with a pre-show specialty cocktail in the Theatre Row Lounge at 6:30pm, and then enjoy the 7:30pm "first look" performance of this queer-indie-rock-action-romance that pulses with fierce conflict – and fiercer harmonies! Wear your best Lizard attire. All seats $27.50.

Wednesday, June 7 - AANHPI Night at Lizard Boy

Join Prospect for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) affinity night! Meet Filipino American author and star of Lizard Boy, Justin Huertas. Enjoy a post-show, onstage Q&A with Huertas, hosted by actor and writer Jason Ma, captured for Backstage Pass with Lia Chang. Use promo code AANHPI to save on your ticket, and receive a free drink voucher to the post-interview reception.

Saturday, June 17 - Patron Dinner at 5pm

After the 3pm matinee or before the 7:30pm evening show, join Prospect artists and fellow theater goers for a three-course, prix fixe meal at a restaurant near the theater at 5:00pm. Glass of wine and coffee or tea included. (Add on dinner ticket price: $75, does not include show ticket).

Following a successful run at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Prospect’s production of Lizard Boy will feature the original actor-musician cast of Justin Huertas, Kiki deLohr, and William A. Williams, and includes understudies Kai An Chee (Mr. Holland’s Opus, Miss Saigon), Milo J. Marami (A Chorus Line, Dog Man: The Musical), and Jacob Ryan Smith (Disney+’s “Hamster & Gretel”).

The creative team for Lizard Boy includes Justin Huertas (Book, Music, Lyrics), Brandon Ivie (Director), Steven Tran (Music Director), Suzu Sakai (Scenic Adaptor / Environmental Design), Erik Andor (Costume Design), Brian Tovar (Lighting Design), Kevin Heard (Sound Design), and Katherine Freer (Projection Design), with L.B. Morse (Original Production Design). The Production Stage Manager is Victoria Whooper, and Assistant Stage Manager is Josh-Andrew Wisdom. Cara Hinh is the Associate Director, and the Assistant Music Director is Keiji Ishiguri.

Lizard Boy tells the story of Trevor—a young man with green scaly skin. He feels like a monster, and rarely braves the city outside his apartment. But when a powerful voice calls to him in a dream, he impulsively finds a date (on Grindr) and begins an adventure beyond his wildest apocalyptic nightmares... Sparks fly in this queer-indie-rock-action-romance that pulses with fierce conflict and fiercer harmonies, and takes us on a heart-pounding ride of self-discovery that asks: If the world were against you... would you still save it?

Lizard Boy is the winner of six 2021 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, including Best Entire Production, Best Stage Direction, and Best Ensemble. The original cast recording, which is available online, has been streamed over three million times on Spotify.

The show was originally commissioned, developed by, and received its world premiere at Seattle Repertory Theatre. It was presented in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s 2020 Festival of New Musicals, further developed and produced by the 2019 TONY-winning TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, and most recently appeared at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Lizard Boy is presented by special arrangement with Creative Endeavor Office (Carolyn D. Miller & Matthew J. Schneider), Blair Russell, Dawn Smalberg, Bev Ragovoy, and Lynne Halliday.

Lizard Boy is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. The production also receives support from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs through the Cultural Development Fund.

Performances are June 1 – July 1, 2023 on the following performance schedule:

Tuesdays – Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 7:30pm. 

Sunday performances are June 4 at 7:30p, June 11 at 3p, June 18 at 3p, and June 25 at 7:30p. 

On Friday, June 9 there is a special 5pm performance, and no 7:30p evening performance. 

Lizard Boy runs 90 minutes with no intermission.

Tickets, starting at $27.50 for “first look” performances, are now on sale, and can be purchased by visiting www.ProspectTheater.org/lizardboy or by calling the Theatre Row Box Office at 212-714-2442 x45 (https://bfany.org/theatre-row/). Theatre Row is located at 410 West 42nd Street. The Box Office is available by phone Monday – Friday from 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm.

Justin Huertas

he/him. New York debut! Justin Huertas is an award-winning playwright, composer, lyricist, and actor best known for his original musical Lizard Boy (Seattle Rep, Diversionary Theatre, NAMT Festival, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Hope Mill Theatre Manchester, Edinburgh Fringe, OCR streaming everywhere). His performance as Trevor has earned him regional theatre awards in Seattle, San Diego, and SF/Bay Area. He and Steven Tran composed original music for the podcast Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show! Other works include The Mortification of Fovea Munson based on Mary Winn Heider’s novel (Kennedy Center), Lydia & the Troll co-created and directed by Ameenah Kaplan (Seattle Rep), and We’ve Battled Monsters Before with Rheanna Atendido (ArtsWest).

Jason Ma (馬智培)

is the son of an immigrant family and a grateful descendant of a long line of those who were able to persist, overcome, and succeed on their way to becoming Americans. In addition to writing, he's an actor who has performed extensively on Broadway and Off-Broadway stages, in regional theaters, and in many international venues, most recently appearing as the Reciter in Signature Theatre's acclaimed production of Pacific Overtures. Jason is the ASCAP Foundation’s 2017 recipient of the Cole Porter Award for his work as a composer/lyricist and the 2021 recipient of the Harold Adamson Award for his work as a lyricist. He wrote the book, music and lyrics for Gold Mountain, which received its world premiere production in the fall of 2021, presented by the Utah Shakespeare Festival . The Utah State Legislature awarded a special citation to the production, honoring “its portrayal of the dreams and daily lives of the Chinese railroad workers…” and "increasing the appreciation of what it means to be American.” Gold Mountain was also performed as a key commemorative event for Utah's 2019 Spike 150 anniversary celebrations, presented in a 2017 concert at The Times Center in New York City by Prospect Theater Company in partnership with National Asian Artists Project, and selected for the 2016 ASCAP/ DreamWorks Musical Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles. Jason wrote original music for Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s groundbreaking production of Twelfth Night, creating songs and sounds based on the cultural, racial, and ethnic identities of the performing company. He's currently working on music and lyrics for a new, original musical Broken Ground with librettist/co-lyricist Christine Toy Johnson, a work originally commissioned by Village Theatre, now in development.

ABOUT PROSPECT THEATER COMPANY

Prospect Theater Company is dedicated to fostering and showcasing today's new voices shaping tomorrow's musicals. Over two decades, the company has premiered more than 35 musicals in New York City, in addition to new plays and numerous re-inventions of classic works. Reflecting its investment in the future of the field, Prospect leads a variety of developmental initiatives: including an annual Musical Theater Lab for emerging writers, and the IGNITE Series of new musical theater in concert. In 2020, Prospect launched the VISION Series of original music-theater works on film, created for online streaming. In recognition of its enterprising and risk-taking new musical theater, the company has received an OBIE Award grant, and its role as a community anchor for emerging artists that strengthens the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theater was honored by the American Theatre Wing.

Recently, Prospect produced the musical song-cycle Notes From Now – Songs of Resilience & Renewal (2022) featuring a lineup of newly-commissioned original songs created by 21 of today’s brightest musical theater writers. Previously, Prospect produced the Drama Desk Award-nominated Einstein’s Dreams (2019) by Joanne Sydney Lessner & Joshua Rosenblum, adapted from the novel by Alan Lightman, and the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-nominated The Hello Girls (2018), by company founding artists Peter Mills & Cara Reichel. Both of these shows ran Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters and have original cast albums available from Broadway Records. Other notable productions include: Kerrigan & Lowdermilk's The Mad Ones (2017); Milburn & Vigoda's Long Story Short (2015); Ryan Scott Oliver and Hunter Foster's Jasper in Deadland (2014); the Drama Desk nominated Tamar of the River (2013) by Joshua H. Cohen and Marisa Michelson; Carner & Gregor's Unlock'd (2013); Gordon Greenberg's revisal of Working (Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble, 2012) including new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Elizabeth Lucas' re-imagining of Guettel's Myths and Hymns (2012); and John Gregor's With Glee (2010).