‘Sold Out’ Hit Musical About Luigi Mangione, ‘Luigi: The Musical,’ Will Hit the New York Stage Just in Time for Accused CEO-Killer’s Trial

“Luigi: The Musical” – a new musical inspired by Luigi Mangione – is headed from San Francisco to New York just in time for Mr. Mangione’s upcoming murder trial at Manhattan criminal court. Mr. Mangione, 27, who faces two trials in New York for the alleged killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, one at state court, starting in June, and one at federal court, starting in September, is the main character in the self-described “satirical prison comedy,” created by writer, lyricist and director Nova Bradford, and composer Arielle Johnson. The musical, which debuted at the Taylor Street Theater last year, an independent theater in San Francisco, will premiere on the East Coast with three performances at The Green Room 42 – a theater inside the Yotel, a budget hotel – with three staged readings on June 15, June 17 and June 18. The subtitle, “a tale of love, murder, and hashbrowns,” is a nod to Mr. Mangione’s arrest at a MacDonald’s in a small town in Pennsylvania, where patrol officers encountered him eating a steak sandwich and hashbrowns for breakfast following a nationwide manhunt five days after Thompson, a Minnesota father of two, was gunned down on a Midtown Manhattan street. Luigi Mangione attends a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 18, 2025 in New York City. Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty ImagesMr. Mangione, who has been incarcerated at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since he was extradited from Pennsylvania to New York in December 2024, is not the only famous inmate being portrayed in “Luigi: the Musical.” Other convicts portrayed in the show are: The disgraced music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was convicted of transporting individuals for the purposes of prostitution last July and sentenced to 50 months in prison (his attorneys are currently appealing the verdict), and Samuel Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, who was convicted of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024. Though the three men were never incarcerated in the same cell, they were at one point at the jail at the same time. The musical takes artistic liberty and brings the “three high-profile inmates” together at the Metropolitan Detention Center, and as the musical’s website states, “reimagines larger-than-life public figures as exaggerated characters representing three disillusioned pillars of American life: healthcare, Hollywood, and tech.” “Part comedy, part social commentary,” the musical promises not to “glorify violence” but to question the portrayal of violence in the media. “Beneath the absurdity and punchlines lies a serious critique of how violence is packaged, sold, and consumed in American media,” the website’s summary advertises. Luigi Mangione as he’s being arrested at the McDonald’s. Altoona Police Dept.“Luigi: the Musical uses comedy to bring deeper questions to the surface,” the director and co-creator Nova Bradford is quoted saying. “Why did this case garner the reaction that it did? And what happens when people stop trusting their institutions?”Though these types of questions are relevant and interesting, it appears from the website’s summary that they outweigh an actual story-line, or perhaps that the commentary is the plot of the play. A review in The New York Times from August 2025 reports that “Tickets sold out immediately.” And that “the run was extended into a bigger theater.” And that the show even made it across the Atlantic for five performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. But the review does not reveal a real dramatic plot, focusing more on “outraged commentators” reacting to the fact that someone dared to write a comedy about a murder. The editor of the OnStage blog is quoted as “reminding” the creators that “A man is dead.” “All of a sudden,” the co-creator and stand-up comedian Ms. Bradford told The New York Times “we were at the center of the very phenomenon that we sought to critique.” Adding that she decided to write the reactions to her show into the show.Supporters of Luigi Mangione wait in line to enter Manhattan Federal Court on January 09, 2026. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesBut are these types of sociological questions actually funny on stage? Do they make for a good comedy? “The show takes aim at a culture where brutality is both entertainment and spectacle, inviting audiences to laugh while also asking why we’re so quick to tune in when someone gets hurt.” The website’s summary continues. “But it goes further, examining how violence is not just the act of individuals, but of elite institutions—like healthcare, Hollywood, and tech—through their neglect, indifference, and lack of accountability.” Perhaps the songs will serve as the comedic footing, musical numbers include “The Cheapest Room in Brooklyn” and a song called “Bay Area Baby” sung by Bankman-Fried’s character.While New Yorkers will see the three re-imagined inmates on stage, the real defendant will be attending his trial, where he has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges.

‘Sold Out’ Hit Musical About Luigi Mangione, ‘Luigi: The Musical,’ Will Hit the New York Stage Just in Time for Accused CEO-Killer’s Trial

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