The musical comedy Baghdaddy, formerly titled Who’s Your Baghdaddy?, will return to New York for an Off-Broadway engagement this spring with much of the original cast. Set in a church basement, the story is centered on a support group for those who started the war with Iraq.
Who’s Your Baghdaddy? received critical acclaim when it debuted Off-Broadway in 2015. The musical is set to begin previews April 6 ahead of a May 1 opening at St. Luke’s Theater. The initial run is scheduled through June 18.
Based on a screenplay by J.T. Allen, Baghdaddy is created by Marshall Pailet and A.D. Penedo, with direction by Pailet.
The returning cast includes Brennan Caldwell (Urinetown), Jason Collins (Signs of Life), Bob D'Haene (The Three Times She Knocked), Brandon Espinoza (Tuck Everlasting), Joe Joseph (Kiss of the Spiderwoman), Olli Haaskivi (Orange is the New Black), Claire Neumann (Triassic Parq), and Larisa Oleynik (Mad Men). Further casting will be announced.
The production will feature musical direction by Rona Siddiqui, orchestrations by Charlie Rosen, and choreography by Misha Shields.
Here’s how production notes bill Baghdaddy: “The show begins in a church basement, where disgraced spies, along with the unwitting audience, gather for a support group meeting. The action soon shifts to Frankfurt Airport, where a mysterious Iraqi defector claims he built secret Iraqi bio-weapons labs. At CIA headquarters, our other characters are contending with their own ambitions, rash decisions, inflexible bosses, unrequited affections and unremitting boredom, when a fax arrives from Germany, and with it a golden opportunity. If the defector's story holds up, it will be the ticket out of the basement and into a corner office. It's all fun and games until the looming cataclysm changes everything.”
The creative team includes Caite Hevner (set design), Jennifer Schriever (lighting design), Summer Lee Jack (costume design), Courteney Leggett (production stage manager), Daryl Eisenberg (casting), Edmund Gaynes (general manager), and Sean Springle (company manager).
