Review: Dad’s ‘Gutenberg’ is a riotous lesson in musical theater with enthusiasm and heart

Gutenberg! The Musical, onstage at Dad’s Garage Theatre through June 28, is a terrifically silly concoction that provides an excellent showcase for performers Travis Sharp and Karen Cassady. It will have you giggling throughout the night.

Directed with tremendous precision by Amanda Lee Williams, Gutenberg! appears in its premise to be simple, zany and sweet. Good friends Doug Simon (Sharp) and Bev Davenport (Cassady) have spent their life savings to rent out the theater for one night only to do a staged reading of their historical musical about Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, in the hope of securing a Broadway producer — if one happens to be in the room.

In its best twist, the staged reading of their book and music — which may not be entirely historically accurate — will have Doug and Bev playing all of the characters in their show. And they’re singing all the songs, even the ones with four-part harmony, accompanied only by a pianist.

Each character — from the title role all the way down to Drunk #2 and Beef Fat Trimmer — are designated only with a differently labeled trucker hat.

Thus, Doug and Bev are constantly scrambling, pulling hats and props from shelves while telling the bonkers story they dreamed up about how winemaker Gutenberg and a grape-stomping wench named Helvetica fought an evil monk while trying to teach his fellow townsfolk how to read.

Along the way, the audience learns the basics of musical theater from Doug and Bev, such as the definitions of metaphor and 11 o’clock number, while also learning about how their dreams and talents have inspired each other. 

To their immense credit, Sharp and Cassady fill everything with enthusiasm and heart. They’re lovely singers, but their greatest strengths are that, as seasoned improvisers, they’re game for everything that gets thrown at them: accents, weird twists and moments that are genuinely moving.

Sharp, himself a skilled songwriter and playwright who co-created Hot Jambalaya and Wicket, is right at home with material this quick and inventive. Cassady has long deserved a showcase of this magnitude, and she’s quite winning.

Gutenberg! shows that successful theater need not feature a massive production and tremendous, expensive spectacle if the talent involved is spectacular.

Written by Anthony King and Scott Brown and staged by Dad’s before in 2014, Gutenberg has a lot going on beneath its surface. Williams’ excellent direction keeps everything moving, with joke after joke, some of them brazen, flying at rocket speed. The hats — thanks to costume designer Liz Singleton and propmaster Melisa DuBois — eventually are used in dozens of unexpected ways, including as puppetry and in dance numbers. Subtle lighting shifts designed by David Reingold underline much of the comedy, particularly villain monologues. And the music is very funny.

This show is a riot, successfully fleshing out the lives of Doug and Bev while completely skewering the musical they dared to dream up.

Where and When 

Gutenberg! The Musical is at Dad’s Garage through June 28. Tickets start at $39.
569 Ezzard St.

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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant.