North Carolina Theatre's Pre-Broadway Engagement of NERDS is Heading to Broadway!

North Carolina Theatre is proud to announce that the new musical dot-comedy Nerds will open at Broadway's Longacre Theatre on April 21st, 2016 following preview performances which began on March 31st.

Nerds was produced by North Carolina Theatre as a pre-Broadway engagement at Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in January 2013 with the goal of using the process of the show's development. The show hailed as a first for the Raleigh arts community and celebrated as an innovative theatre experience by critics and audiences alike.

Nerds is also notable as the Broadway directorial debut of NCT's Artistic Director, Casey Hushion.

"As Artistic Director, I am proud to uphold NCT's mission to honor the past, present, and future of the musical theatre art form. With NERDS, we are advancing our long-term artistic vision to produce New Works and I could not be more thrilled. Directing this show on Broadway is realizing a life-long dream," said Casey Hushion.

"We're thrilled to add a jolt of comedy to this already astounding theater season, with this hilarious tale of the Founding Fathers of Tech, from a creative team stacked with new voices," said producer Carl Levin. "While fine-tuning and re-coding the show for this exciting launch, we've also been exploring innovative ways to enhance the 'user experience' inside the theater, for a uniquely entertaining event - compatible for Broadway audiences of all generations."

According to the show's description "Before Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were the undisputed titans of technology, they were Nerds. Join America's favorite garage inventors on a hilarious musical journey from the floppy disc era to the iPhone phenomenon, and the epic competition in between, that would revolutionize modern culture as we know it. Fittingly, the production will feature the most progressive technology seen on Broadway, including: on-stage holograms; projection mapping; and an enhanced theatergoing experience through app integrations that allow users to interact with the set and other audience members, choose the show's ending, and more special features soon to be announced."

NERDS was first presented by the Philadelphia Theatre Company, where it received Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Original Music and Outstanding New Play. In 2013, the show played limited engagements at North Carolina Theatre and again at Philadelphia Theatre Company where it received seven Barrymore Award Nominations. The Philadelphia Inquirer called Nerds "generation defining," "visually hot and musically adept filled with one knockout, high-velocity number after a number" and "with surgical precision [like] How to Succeed meets Urinetown, Nerds nails such themes as the cost of dreams and the emptiness of revenge. And, is full of class, insight and wit."

NERDS features book & lyrics by multiple Emmy nominees Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner (Cartoon Network's Robot Chicken), music by Hal Goldberg (The Children), and choreography by Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Joshua Bergasse (NBC's Smash, On the Town, Gigi).

The Broadway cast will be announced shortly.

NERDS features scenic design by Lee Savage (Ordinary Boys), projection design by Daniel Brodie (Aladdin), costume design by Jennifer Caprio (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), lighting design by Jason Lyons (Rock of Ages, Hand to God) and sound design by Nevin Steinberg (Hamilton, Bright Star). Orchestrations are by Adam Blau ("Funny or Die's Billy on the Street"), Matt Doebler is Music Director and Nadia DiGiallonardo (Waitress, Pippin) is the Music Supervisor and Arranger. Casting is by Bethany Knox (Hamilton, Something Rotten!), CSA of Telsey + Co.

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