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MISCHIEF are doing a Musical! | What we know about Thespians, from The Play that Goes Wrong creators
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We are Marines. We were made for this. So the acclaimed theatrical comedy troupe Mischief Theatre, the geniuses behind such shows as the Play that Goes Wrong and the comedy about a bank robbery, bringing a new project to the stage, their first ever musical. But is it going to be the Musical that Goes Wrong? Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel or hello to those of you listening to this exciting theatre news update on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a professional theatre critic and a content creator here on social media and today we are going to be talking about the breaking theatrical news that Mischief Theatre are bringing a brand new show to the stage. But not just any show and not a show like any they have ever attempted before because for the first time they are developing a musical. The show is premiering regionally before embarking on a regional UK tour which is very exciting for those of you who are theatre fans living outside of London. It is going to be called Thespians. It is starting in May 2026. I'm going to tell you all the details. We are going to speculate a little bit about what this show is going to be like. We are also going to talk through everything that we know so far and for those of you who aren't necessarily familiar with Mischief Theatre, I'm going to try and give you a little bit of an ins into why this is so exciting because they have been on fine form recently, not only back in the West End this summer with a brand new show, the comedy about spies, which has also been professionally recorded, so hopefully more of you will have a chance to see that soon. They are this holiday season bringing A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong to the stage for the very first time. A piece originally created for TV if I'm not mistaken. And now the news that many have been waiting for and even speculating about for a Little Bit. Their first ever musical in 2026. Well, let's start talking about it then. I'll be shar all of my thoughts and insights with you and reading from the official press release, hot off the press, but as always I would love to know what you think as well. Let me know all of your thoughts about this upcoming Mischief Theatre musical in the comments section down below. Do you plan to book tickets? Where are you planning to see it and what do you think the show is going to be like? Let's talk all about it. In the meantime, here is what I know about Thespians. Okie dokie. So we are reading from the press release, which I dare say at some point will give us a little bit of a recap of Mischief Theatre for those of you who are not necessarily familiar, but here is the headline news Mischief to debut their first musical comedy. It's a limited tour from May 2026 beginning at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, which is a terrific regional theatre. For those of you wondering where else it's going to be playing, if it's going to be visiting a theatre near you, I will skip ahead to that paragraph. So Thespians is going to be making its world premiere at the Mercury Theatre in Colch from the 9th to the 23rd May, followed by runs at Theatre Royal Bath, another Great Theatre from the 26th to the 30th of May, the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon from the 2nd to the 6th of June. I've never been there. The Yvonne Arnault in Guildford, I've been there many times from the 9th to the 13th June, the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, Great House from the 16th to the 20th June. I've been to a lot of theatres and the new theatre in Cardiff from the 23rd to the 27th June and home Manchester, also a great theatre from the 7th to the 18th July. There are a couple of gaps in there in particular between late June and early July. It doesn't indicate that there are more venues to be announced, but you never know. We're going to skip back up because we have gone past some important information so this is the first musical comedy from Mischief Theatre and as I mentioned, it is called Thespians and the quote they're leading with is if you thought something funny happened on the way to the Forum, which is immediately what I started thinking of, they got me. Wait until you hear what happened en route to the amphitheater. Now, this is a co production between Mercury Theatre, Colchester, JPT Productions and Home Manchester. It's the world premiere of this new Mischief production. The brand new musical comedy which rewrites ancient history will have a limited nine week tour and you know, if it's successful, potentially that's ahead of a West End production or a more extended tour. I dare say, as we seen with previous Mischief shows, that this could just be a little bit of a development run. If they do well, often they go on to bigger things. That being said, there have been other Mischief developed shows that have premiered regionally that have not made a resurgence since. I'm thinking about Good Luck Studio, which was another comedy play from them that sort of landed in a slightly different place tonally. It was a little bit darker than their usual stuff and it didn't have the most glowing critical response at the Mercury Theater in Colchester where I also saw the show and we never really heard from that one again. And you may be wondering, since they brought the comedy about spies directly to the West End, why they are developing and premiering this regionally. And I think it has a lot to do with them doing something that is a little bit more off piste like Good Luck Studio was. That was a little bit left field for them. And in many ways we can anticipate that their first ever musical will be as well. It's a very different kind of a beast to get right. It's not just a case of, you know, taking one of their winning formulas, either the comedy about her style shows or the goes wrong style shows and giving it just kind of a new setting and new characters and new material. This is doing something very different. Perhaps. I say perhaps because I'm still speculating, there's a lot that we just don't know. But here is what we do know. 534 BC. That's a long time ago. Greece's smallest island is battling to avoid defeat in a nationwide prayer competition set up by a thin skinned tyrant. Oh my goodness. Where the loser is put to death. All is going dreadfully until Thespis accidentally invents acting, leading to the world's first play and the origins of theatre as we know it. This is already entirely wacky. Very silly and also very funny. I could immediately see the mischief root into this. I'm sort of thinking, once you start talking about that setting, I'm thinking about, like, some of the Monty Python stuff of a similar sort of era. I'm also thinking about moments from, like, something rotten when they talk about, like, the dawning of the musical and they see a vision of what it can go on to be. But it's also, as usual with mischief stuff, very plucky, very underdoggy, Greece's smallest island battling to avoid defeat in a nationwide prayer competition. The entire premise is so ridiculously silly. I love it. I absolutely love it. Now, the first thing I ever heard about this a little while ago was just mischief developing a musical. And at that point I assumed that it was going to be in their usual style. And for some time, whenever a conversation had arisen about, like, what kind of a mischief show would you like to see next? I was wondering when they would get round to doing something like the musical that goes wrong. Because you could take the play that goes wrong or Magic goes wrong, the other shows that they've done and adapt it only slightly. Peter Pan goes Wrong being another to get the musical that goes wrong. And I didn't know if they did do something like that, whether it would be maybe like the play that goes wrong, a sort of a musical theatre society, a local group, an amateur or community theatre group trying to put on a musical and it going badly wrong. And when I heard the title Thespians for the first time, like a whisper on the Wind, I wondered whether that was still going to be the case. But I think I like this even better because not only have we had those terrific shows on stage, we've also had the goes wrong show on screen, which has allowed them to explore various different settings. And I like a lot of those, those high concept environments that they find themselves in, and they do very well to parody those. And so immediately I find it very funny to think about them in the very birthplace of theatre as we know. And it seems very appropriate for mischief to venture back to the very dawn of theatre as a concept. If anyone's gonna do it, I'm happy that it's mischief. I need you to know I had a hair on my tongue the entire time I was saying all of that and now I can't find it. It's somewhere. Oh, my God. Ah. Do not make me do this entire video with a hair somewhere in my mouth. I spent the weekend with a Labrador. This is what happens. I think it's gone. Perhaps I've swallowed it. We're gonna carry on. So we have a little bit more here about the show itself. Step into the amphitheater. You don't need to ask me twice. Leave your troubles in the foyer and escape into ancient Greece. As it bursts into song with a thrilling plot, a love story worthy of Aphrodite. I mean, we're going for like classical musical theatre convention here. How could there not be a love and enough laughter to fill the Acropolis? That I do not doubt Thespians is an uplifting, hilarious and timely reminder of the power of empathy and stepping into someone else's sandals. Again, very funny. But if there's one thing that I like to hear right now, it's a new piece of theatre celebrating empathy and reminding us of the importance of connection and empathy. So I'm excited to hear that. I think this could be something quite sincere masquerading as something a little bit silly like with other shows like Operation Mincemeat. Carrying On. This is written by Jonathan Sayer, who is a founding member of Mischief, who is one of the co writers of much of their stuff, including the play that Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong and the comedy about a bank robbery. He was, for those of you who have seen Mischief stuff on stage, the original performer of It's Dennis, isn't it? The nervous in the play that goes Wrong. He's the butler character who writes all of his more challenging lines down on his hands and always looks perpetually very fearful. He's historic, hysterically funny. He's very good at those types of characters, but he's also a really brilliant writer. This being a musical, however, it is co written by Jonathan and Ed Zanders who has some Mischief connection. He was the musical director of Mischief Movie Night, which was their improvised shows where they would take suggestions from the audience and create an original movie on stage with hilarious disastrous consequences. I have seen Ed Zander's work in a couple of shows as a performer and as a musical director. I'm a big fan of his. I think he's very talented. Anyone who can create music for those improv shows, I am in awe of the talent that you need to be able to pull something like that together. This says, do not miss this ancient prescription for modern day laughter. If there's one thing we need right now. Well, if there's two things we need right now, one of them is politically astute pieces of theater that remind us of the terrible direction we're heading in. The other one is a Lot of distracting laughter packed with comedy, chaos and choreography that will have every mortal in your household aching with laughter. I dare say, because this is Mischief doing their first musical, Capital M musical, that's what we're calling this. And we're saying choreography, love story, songs. And because of Ed Zander's involvement, I think this is going to be striving towards quintessential musical theatre and not unlike shows like Something Rotten. I wonder if it's going to be sort of deliberately on the nose with how musical theatre it is. I'm thinking Grecian jazz hands and all of that stuff. All that jazz, if you will. But before I speculate, let's hear what Jonathan Sayer himself has to say about it. He says, I'm absolutely delighted that Thespians will be touring the UK next year. I've always loved musicals and it's been a total joy to co write one, especially with such a skilled composer as Ed. I think the show is full of heart, great songs, plus the laughter and mayhem that you'd expect in a Mischief show. We can't wait to share it with audiences next year. And that makes me incredibly excited because there's nothing I love more really, than a show that is full of heart and joy and comedy, like an operation Mince me. I think that can be a really winning formula for success because you get to a certain point in a hilarious show where you want it to have that little bit of sincerity. And, you know, we all like to laugh and there are few things that are consistently as popular as Mischief shows. So I really am hoping that their first ever musical is going to be a home run. You can find out more information@thespiansmusical.com that's thespians with an S. With two S's, actually. Musical.com. now, I've told you the dates already, but I did promise you, for those of you who aren't familiar, necessarily, a little bit more information about Mischief Theatre and their background. So, Mischief Theatre Limited was founded in 2008 by a group of acting graduates of Lambda and began as an improvised comedy group. So the original founding Mischief members all met when they were acting students together. Mischief performs across the UK and internationally. The Play that Goes Wrong is still running off Broadway and still running, of course, at the Duchess Theatre in the West End, having recently celebrated a milestone anniversary. Those, of course, are just the original productions that they themselves put together. There are also now non replica productions of their work happening globally, which is really exciting and a true mark of success, I think, for Them as writers and developers of new material. The company is owned and controlled by its original members and is led by a creative group and its directors, Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer. Mischief can currently be watched all over the globe. I mean this is just telling you many of the things that I've already said. A huge amount of achievements being detailed, detailed here. Their appearances on the Royal Variety show, their various TV series, the stuff that they have created and developed. Some information here about the co producers Mercury Theatre in Colchester, home in Manchester. But as far as this new production goes, I dare say that that is everything that this has to tell us so far. So let us continue to speculate while I let you know some of my own thoughts. I mean I've kind of been doing this that along the way, but let's talk about what I think of this new Mischief show. So like I said, I have been anticipating a Mischief musical for some time. I think this is a great move for them and I have had various levels of enjoyment with Mischief shows in the past, but the biggest hits have hit so hard. The Play that Goes Wrong is such a success. It is such a now internationally renowned, proven success around the globe. I actually went back last week, the week before last, to see the current cast in the West End and obviously the original performers were so iconic and so brilliant in those roles, but it is still so funny with performers who have been able now to reinterpret those roles in very different ways and bring very different, equally comic but very fresh characterizations to those once familiar parts. And it still works. It is still such a winning formula that remains, I think think one of my easiest theatre recommendations. If I don't know your theatrical background, if you're bringing family members to London and they haven't been to the theatre before and you just want something that everyone's going to enjoy. Certainly if you want to laugh, I am telling you to go to the Play that Goes Wrong. It's also one of the most affordable tickets in the West End. It's always a great show to go back to. It's doing really great stuff and they're having a really big year this year for putting new work on stage for the very first time. There had been a little bit of a gap for Mischief and they had taken a things to the Edinburgh Fringe and they had taken some stuff to Broadway but now they seem to be firing once more on all cylinders. What's also interesting is that Thespians is written specifically by Jonathan Sayer. Now they have collaborated on some of their biggest shows, but they have also developed their own sort of passion projects. Charlie Russell, one of the original Mischief members, took a solo show to the Edinburgh fringe called Charlie Russell Aims to Please, which I hope we get to see again. That was one that was sort of quite meaningful and heavy under the guise of being silly and comic. Meanwhile, the dark comedy play production of theirs that I told you about, Good Luck Studio, also at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, had been written by Henry Shields, another key mischief maker and co writer, who you may know best as Chris Bean, the director. So it's intriguing then, and perhaps not surprising for those of you who listen to the various, like, podcast things or pay attention to interviews and have any sense of their own personalities that like, like these are the shows that they choose to develop. And Jonathan Sayer evidently is the one who has been eager to create Mischief's first musical. And while perhaps the most obvious expectation would have been to do the musical that Goes Wrong and to make it another AM Dram community theater focused thing that kind of just redoes their greatest success, it perhaps is going to be ultimately a better idea to step slightly further away from that and not try and steer too close to something they've already done for fear of seeming repetitious, for fear of just incorporating the same kind of slapstick and destructive, chaotic humor. Not that I don't think that would be very funny, but it's probably going to be ultimately more successful to do something more original. And if even reading the premise has me giggling as much as I am, I think this is a great idea. I think there's something very compelling about this and I think this is going to prove to be a hot ticket as long as people find out about it. And I hope that I'm helping to make that happen. I think that certainly there are a lot of Mischief Theatre fans over the last few years in the UK who will travel to see this at those regional venues. And the dates are quite short that they are playing at each of these theatres. I'm very glad, I will say, that they are touring to regional theatres. It reminds me of when Sir Ian McKellen took his show around the country to all of these different theatres in order to specifically benefit those theatres and financially partnered with each one so that they could feel the reward of that and Mischief, when, you know, if they wanted to, they could just do a short regional run and then bring something into the West End. They have the producer support, they have the success now. They have that stamp, that mark of quality from all of their previous productions. I think they probably would be able to market that show and sell it well in London if they wanted to. I think it says a lot that what they are choosing to do is develop it and try it out with audiences around the country. That's probably also going to give them a better indication of how the piece works as well. It is going to be interesting seeing them develop a musical for the first time, and it makes me curious also about how it's going to be cast, because a musical versus a play. I'm curious about how long this has been in development, whether this has been workshopped. I've been hearing that it was on the way to arriving, but I haven't necessarily heard explicitly about workshops in the same way that I have for other new musicals in development. We do know, however, that musicals take way longer to put together than plays. We're talking years and years and years now. There are many Mischief alumni and original Mischief Theatre members who have done musical theatre who have musical theater chops. A lot of them are strong enough singers, strong enough dancers. Very possibly roles have been written in this so that they can be strong character performers with a talented musical ensemble around them. I don't know. I'm very curious as to whether we're going to see Henry Shields in this, whether we're going to Henry Lewis in this, a lot of the typical faces, whether we're going to see Charlie Russell and Bryony and Nancy Zamit. I would like to because I've long wanted to see a lot of those performers in musicals. Like I said, some of them have done musicals. But there's also a lot of really funny musical theater heavyweights who would be great in a Mischief show and there's a lot of people who have done it. Like Scott Hunter is a brilliant musical theatre performer who has done a couple of Mischief Shows shows. Genevieve Nicole is another one who is absolutely hilarious on stage. Oscar Conlon Mori like there are so many. Ash Blackwood, I think did the play that Goes Wrong as well. There are so many hysterically funny performers who would be brilliant in this and it's very exciting to think about who they might possibly have in it. That is going to be the next big update that I await eagerly.
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In the meantime though, that I think is everything that I have to say about Thespians. I am definitely going to try and catch this during its little mini regional tour and I would encourage you to do so as well. I am loving absolutely everything that I'm hearing about this show and it could be one of the really charming new musical surprises of 2026. If you want to to make sure you don't miss out, then book your tickets when they go on sale. Actually, can I tell you when they go on sale? That would be helpful, isn't it? If I could be at all useful to you. Thespians will make its world premit Casting will be announced later. More information Thespians to maybe it's on sale now. Maybe it will be on sale at the time that this gets announced, which is in a few hours from when I am sitting here. But by the time you're seeing this, perhaps it's already on sale. I would check. I think it wouldn't hurt to check that's at thespians museum, musical.com or any of the websites of the theatres that it is visiting. And having offered you nothing by way of helpful information about the on sale dates, I wish you nothing but luck. In the meantime, that's everything that I have to say about Mischief's first ever musical. What an exciting time. Let me know all of your thoughts in the comments section down below. Are you going to go see it? Are you as excited as I am? And as always, thank you so much for listening to what I had to say. If you want to stay up to date with all of the theatre news that I'm sharing here in the West End or over on Broadway, as well as all my reviews, theatre going vlogs, interviews and more, make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel or go follow me on podcast platforms or other social media platforms. As always, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day.
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