Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) has begun workshopping the first-ever musical adaptation of the 1930s classic novel My Man Godfrey. The new musical will feature a book by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes and music & lyrics by Tony Award-winning composer Mark Hollmann, with Broadway Director and ATC’s Kasser Family Artistic Director Matt August at the helm of the workshop. The cast is headed by Broadway stars Kevin Earley and Stephanie Styles and is supported by more than two dozen of Arizona’s finest performers. The workshop marks the initial phase in bringing this beloved story to life.
“My Man Godfrey is a genuinely romantic love story set to a Golden-Age style score as interpreted through the hilarious lens that only Hollmann and Holmes possess,” August says. “It’s a story that occupies that special moment of American history when the Roaring 1920s and ‘30s collided with the Great Depression, causing a complete reframing of the ideas of wealth, poverty and the American Dream. This new musical comedy leans into those social distinctions with bright, loveable characters who all learn that privilege and purpose go hand in hand. And, oh my god! The music!! It’s astonishing!!”
My Man Godfrey is a new musical about a zany 1930s New York socialite who enlists a homeless man to be the family butler and then falls in love with him. All the while, his true identity has yet to be revealed. Considered one of the best Screwball Comedies of all time, this musical adaptation follows one of Manhattan’s craziest society families through a comedic romp as they learn the true value of their money and themselves.
The journey to adapt My Man Godfrey into a musical began in the early 2000s, with a collaboration between Holmes, who is known for his Tony Award-winning musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood and hits like “Escape (The Pina Colada Song),” and Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Hollmann, renowned for his score for Urinetown. With their combined expertise, Holmes and Hollmann built upon the foundation of Eric S. Hatch’s novel My Man Godfrey to create a new musical adaptation.
August, My Man Godfrey’s original director, has been a driving force behind the project since its inception. After a stalled production at Los Angeles’s 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre, August brought the project to ATC. Now as the Artistic Director in charge of programing ATC’s seasons, August is intending to use this workshop to launch the world premiere of My Man Godfrey into a full production for Arizona audiences.
The addition of actors Earley and Styles to head the cast adds to the star-studded team being built for this production. Earley has appeared on Broadway in two separate runs of Les Miserables, Thoroughly Modern Millie and A Tale of Two Cities. Styles made her Broadway debut in the 2019 production of Kiss Me Kate and has gone on to star in television series such as Loot with Maya Rudolph and Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David. Arizona musical theatre veterans Toby Yatso, Katie McFadzen, D. Scott Withers, Seth Tucker, Brenda Jean Foley, Rusty Ferracane, Trisha Ditsworth, Matravius Avent, Lucas Coatney-Murrieta, Amy Jo Halliday, Debby Rosenthal, John Knispel, Wesley Bradstreet, Cassie Chilton and Alexandria Joy along with a team of musical theatre interns from ASU join the main company.
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