TJ (Stephen Michael Spencer), 23 (Lauren Lolo Pritchard), and Drew (Jonathan Judge-Russo) are aiming for the Grand Ole Opry.
The venue is St. Luke’s Theatre, but for all practical purposes, it isn’t anymore. The Restaurant Row mainstay is now the Wicked Tickle, an East Nashville dive where the beer is cheap, the country-and-western is tangy and smart, and Cindy the bartender is on hand to crack you open a Pabst. And it’s the home of Music City, a return engagement of a musical that played well at the West End Theatre in 2024 and has only ripened with age.
Stucky (Andrew Rothenberg) is successful, hot, and full of himself.
Country composer-lyricist JT Harding has raided his catalogue and supplemented it with new songs to help tell librettist Peter Zinn’s savory story. It’s mostly about brothers TJ (Stephen Michael Spencer) and Drew (Jonathan Judge-Russo), down-on-their-luck singer-songwriters who catch a break when record label executive Leanne (Leenya Rideout) wanders in. She hears and likes their song, “Y’Allsome.” And who wouldn’t? “Y’allsome party people, / Y’allsome crazy mothers, / Y’allsome freakin’ good lookin’ country lovers!” Harding seldom rhymes perfectly, but his songs are crazily infectious.
Leanne might be willing to pitch “Y’Allsome” to her swollen-headed star act, Stucky Stiles (Andrew Rothenberg), but she’ll need a professional demo, and for that TJ and Drew will need big bucks. For the funds, they’ll have to start delivering to clients of menacing meth dealer Bakerman (Rothenberg again), generating manifold complications when one of those clients turns out to be Tammy (Rideout again), the addict mom of 23 (Lauren Lolo Pritchard), named in tribute to the TV show Get Smart. TJ quickly finds himself drawn to 23, both emotionally and creatively, because she is a gifted singer-songwriter herself, and they collaborate on more good songs.
To spell out more would be to spoil the fun. Suffice it to say that addiction figures in, along with global intrigue, the National Guard, gun threats, celebrity hubris, tortured filial and mother-daughter relationships, and more; the music seldom stops flowing; and the cast is insanely talented.
23 and TJ make beautiful music together. Photographs by Jeremy Daniel.
Zinn’s characters feel real: working-class, rowdy, uncensored, and so recognizable that even those who have never been near Nashville will understand what they’re chasing, and what they’re afraid of losing. The songs, while all diegetic, contain themes that suit and comment on the characters singing them. And when the music stops, the virtuosity doesn’t; this company can act, and when 23 was getting weepy over TJ’s absence and unknown whereabouts, there were sniffles in the audience.
Spencer is a star, the recipient of a special Drama Desk Award for his work in this and Medea Re-Versed in the 2024-25 season: handsome, charismatic, an ace guitarist, and able to generate palpable heat in his scenes with Pritchard, who joined the cast at the last minute—and you’d never know it. But there’s not a weak link, and that goes double for the double-casting. As Bakerman, Rothenberg plies a lisp and a raspy tenor; as Stucky, he loses the lisp, drops an octave, and charms and swaggers like Garth Brooks on a good day in 1991. Rideout gives Leanne sharp edges—businesslike, controlled—while Tammy is a needy disaster. Both create such divergent personas that you may be checking your program to see if it’s the same actor.
There are other heroes. Julianne B. Merrill, who did music supervision and direction, is a sweetheart as Wyn, the motherly Wicked Tickle manager, and just about stops the show with “Alone with You,” one of Harding’s strongest songs. As bandmate Newt, Drew Bastian plies a mean set of drums and lands a comic line. PJ Ju, Ann Klein, and Tony Tino round out the band, producing a bigger and more likable sound than some Broadway orchestras.
Leenya Rideout plays Tammy, a former country singer who is slave to a drug habit that she can’t kick.
Clifton Chadick’s scenic design is ingenious, preserving the Wicked Tickle ambience even while convincingly shifting to Tammy’s trailer park or Stucky’s mansion. Eric Tucker’s direction cleverly keeps shifting focus: the staging is immersive, and you’ll have to keep rotating your pub chair to take it all in, especially as characters scream insults at one another from opposite ends of the hall. Kindall Houston Almond’s costumes, ranging from Walmart bargain rack to Stucky’s lavish touring duds, help define character. Eric Southern’s lighting is elaborate and mood-altering, and Jane Shaw’s sound keeps most of the lyrics audible.
Music City does kind of lumber to a conclusion, with an Act II plot twist taking the action to more checkpoints than absolutely necessary. Still, it’s an honest, bracing, humorous look at a subculture that has seldom looked or sounded this appealing. The best country-and-western songs have wordplay, big feelings, and hooks you can’t shake. This show delivers all three, plus a swell story to match.
Music City plays through Oct. 31 at St. Luke’s Theatre (308 West 46th St.). Evening performances are at 7 p.m. Sunday through Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Matinees are at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For tickets and information, visit musiccitythemusical.com.
Book: Peter Zinn
Music & Lyrics: JT Harding
Director: Eric Tucker
Choreography: John Heginbotham
Scenic Design: Clifton Chadick
Costume Design: Kindall Houston Almond
Lighting Design: Eric Southern
Sound Design: Jane Shaw
Music Supervision & Direction: Julianne B. Merrill
