When I listed out upcoming shows to my show buddy to see what he’d be interested in going to, Gutenberg! caught his eye. “I’m a bit sad that Gutenberg isn’t about Steve Guttenberg, though.” he mentioned. (Ironically, and probably intentionally, Steve Guttenberg did put on a play in New York this fall, “Tales From the Guttenberg Bible”)
Before the show, non-internet Clark Burnett and I wanted to track down a copy of the Gutenberg bible. The New York Public Library was our first choice, but while in New York we found out that The Morgan Library & Museum has three copies, so we went there. I recommend checking it out.
Gutenberg!, spelled with just one “t” and also an exclamation point, is a wild comedy about two aspiring musical writers with one chance to perform their show and catch the attention of a Broadway producer. Their musical, as you can imagine, is about Johann Gutenberg, the invention of the printing press and the printing of the Gutenberg bible, but the facts in the story are comically inaccurate.
The Jack Black-style music in the show, performed by two singers and a piano player, mostly works. It’s funny enough in some places and hilarious in others. Most of the lyrics and the book are completely ridiculous, which is certainly my brand of humor. A musical highlight of the show is the central song “Words, Words, Words” in which the title character and the town drunks aspire to get drunk off of words.
“We’re gonna get drunk off of words
I’m gonna start a fight!
I’m gonna vomit words!”
This two-person production stars Andrew Rannells (Book of Mormon, Falsettos) as Bud Davenport and Josh Gad (also Book of Mormon and Frozen the cartoon movie, not that amazing horror movie we all love) as Doug Simon. Being a Book of Mormon reunion is a fun selling point, and it adds a little something extra when we get towards the end of the show and the two characters reflect on all of the hard work they have put into their theater careers and that it all led to this moment. The ending scenes of the show felt surprisingly moving and effective to me. (tears)
At the very end of the show, the surprise guests were none other than Steve Martin and Martin Short! Holy crap! It felt like being on the set of Saturday Night Live. The audience (and the cast) went crazy. We lucked out. The next night, the celebrity guest was a YouTube content creator.
Will Gutenberg! go down in history as one of the great shows? No, of course not, but it was a fun night for sure. Gutenberg! is currently playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre in New York until January 28, 2024.
7/10
https://www.baystreet.org/calendar/tales-of-the-guttenberg-bible/