Gutenberg! The Musical!

Meet Bud and Doug. Tonight is the most important night of their lives.

From the creators of Beetlejuice: The Musical, comes the Broadway smash hit Gutenberg! The Musical! – a love letter to the underdog, and to music theatre itself. This joyously funny and stupidly clever musical tells a story of friendship, ambition, and the kind of unshakable delusion that might just change the world – or at least get you to Broadway.  

Doug and Bud are best friends. They’ve written a mega-musical about Johannes Gutenberg (you know, the guy who invented the printing press?) with a huge cast and lavish production values. It’s been a true labour of love, and tonight they’re giving it everything they’ve got in a one-night-only backer’s audition – playing every role themselves with the aid of dozens of baseball caps, boundless enthusiasm, and their extremely hard-working piano player, Charles. Whether they’re portraying monks, peasants, wenches, or integral roles like ‘Friend of Gutenberg’ and ‘Another Woman’ – Bud and Doug bring an infectious energy and relentless inventiveness to every wild twist of their ‘historical’ ‘epic’. 

Richard Carroll (Murder For Two, The Pirates of Penzance) directs the first production of Gutenberg! in Australia since it broke Broadway records in 2023-24 – bringing together Sydney Theatre Award winners Stephen Anderson (Titanique) and Ryan González (In The Heights) in an irresistibly irreverent celebration of creativity, resilience, and the sheer joy of putting on a show – even when no one asked you to. 

Photos by John McRae.

“Absolutely flawless.” - The Scoop

“A reminder of how restorative it is to laugh.” - Time Out

“Virtually endless laughter” - Stage Noise

“Comically razor sharp.” - Suzy Goes See

Written by Anthony King & Scott Brown

Presented by Hayes Theatre Co