After attending a series of readings of unproduced musicals sent by aspiring writers to the Manhattan Theatre Club, Anthony King and Scott Brown couldn’t believe how incredibly bad they were – passionate but hopeless knockoffs of other shows.

They were struck with an idea. How about they write a musical comedy about a pair of passionate but inept writers who are convinced they have written a surefire Broadway hit, when in truth, it’s dreadful?

And so the duo (who would go on to write the book for Beetlejuice the Musical) came up with Gutenberg! The Musical!. Opening off-Broadway in 2006, it has since had productions around the world including a Broadway revival in 2023.

Stephen Anderson and Ryan González in Gutenberg! The Musical! Photo © John McRae

First seen in Australia in 2009, it is now being presented at Sydney’s Hayes Theatre Co.

Best buddies Bud Davenport and Doug Simon have been lip-synching to patients at a nursing home in New Jersey, but when Bud inherits some money from an uncle, they decide to write a musical together about Johannes Gutenberg, the 15th-century inventor of the printing press.

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