Exclusive: How a Madcap New Off-Broadway Show With a ‘Musical Theater F–kboy’ Became a Royal Affair

Nat Zegree, Eric Holmes and the cast of their new Off-Broadway musical The King’s Critique are about to enter their royal era when the show begins performances at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center. 

It’s been a long time coming for the musical, which features music and lyrics by Zegree and a book and lyrics by Holmes. The pair, who both attended Indiana University, began working on The King’s Critique more than a decade ago. However, the two hadn’t touched it agin until they were given the opportunity to develop it further. 

Earlier this year, Zegree and Holmes released a five-song EP featuring tunes from the musical performed by Broadway stars like Jordan Fisher, Joy Woods, Troy Iwata and Norbert Leo Butz. Now, they are preparing to officially open Off-Broadway on November 12.

“I didn’t really think about this show coming back with the force that it has until we were already deep into it,” Zegree exclusively tells BroadwayWorld. “I’m still blown away by how much people have enjoyed it for us to take it off the shelf and literally, in under two years, be opening in New York City. It feels pretty unheard of.”  

Below, Zegree tells BroadwayWorld how his and Holmes’ madcap new musical came together. 

Start by telling me how you and Eric Holmes began working on The King’s Critique. 
Nat Zegree: Eric and I wrote this show over 11 years ago when I had just moved to New York City. It was the first thing we ever started writing, and we wrote it in a matter of weeks. And then it just sat on the shelf for literally over a decade, and we didn’t do anything with it because our other projects were gaining a lot of traction and success. Less than two years ago, our lead producer, Meg [Fofonoff], went to Eric and said, “What else do you have?” And here we are opening Off-Broadway.

I’m always coming up with ideas, and I wanted to adapt The Emperor’s New Groove, the Disney movie, as a musical, which obviously was completely far-fetched because we would never get those rights. So we went back to the original fable, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and used that as our jumping-off point and created this brand-new completely original plot that goes along with that classic fable. Because we are lovers of art and theater, that became the backdrop — and the focus of the musical itself was this king who apparently knows everything there is to know about theater and art when in fact he is the biggest fool of them all.

It’s an absolutely madcap, ridiculous musical theater comedy that follows this incredible performer, Josephine, who is living in a kingdom where women are not allowed to write, perform, direct or anything. They simply are not allowed. She wants to be the first woman to truly perform on the stage and teams up with Sebastian, your classic musical theater f–kboy tenor. And together, they come up with this plan to prove the king a fool by coming into the kingdom disguised as different people to show the king and show the kingdom that the king really doesn’t know anything about what he’s talking about. Of course, as soon as they start their plan, everything starts going wrong, and they find themselves on a madcap adventure to save the theater.

You said it sat on the shelf for quite a number of years. How much has it changed from that original show that you wrote years ago? 
NZ: It definitely evolved in so many ways. It’s fair to say that when we wrote this in 2015, the world was very different. As the years have gone on, somehow it has tragically almost become more and more relevant with people following leaders who maybe are not exactly the best thing for the people that they are leading. So we definitely found new ways to grow the show along with the growth of our society and our country and the world that we live in right now, while also making sure that it really lives in its own world of imagination and comedy.

We never wanted it to be something that was a literal mirror to society. We always wanted it to be a bit of an escape while also reminding people, “Hey, there are lessons to be learned from this as well that you can take into your own life.” 

How did Jordan Fisher (a producer through his Jordan Fisher Theatrics) get on board?
NZ: We went to Jordan when we were creating a concept album last year, and he immediately fell in love with so much of the music, including music that wasn’t even on the concept album. We only went to him for one song, and then he wanted to sing another one, and then he wanted to learn more about it and read the script and the show, and he absolutely fell in love with it. [He’s] been our leading man for pretty much everything we’ve done with it since he came on board, and he took on the show for himself to become a co-lead producer with our other co-lead producer, Meg Fofonoff.

He was very much going to be our Sebastian, but then another opportunity came up that was something we wanted him to be able to experience. But we got incredibly lucky because how do you replace Jordan Fisher? Well, you get someone as incredibly brilliant as Sky Lakota-Lynch, and that’s how Sky got onto the show and fell in love with it just as quickly as Jordan. It’s really the best of both worlds.

You juggle so many things as a music director and composer — and you’re also a performer as well. What do you gravitate most towards?
NZ: I do enjoy getting to wear the hats that I do in my life. But with this, I’d be lying if I said that there weren’t pitches for me to be one of these characters and on stage in the show as well. But for this iteration, I simply said no. I really wanted to focus on watching it come to life while also still, of course, having my hands deep in the dough of creating it. This has obviously been something that has come from my mind, at least musically speaking, for well over a decade. 

There’s so much of this show that is coming from my spirit and my heart that it just felt right for me to music direct it and co-orchestrate the show with the incredible Ian Chan and conduct it and play the entire run as well — which for me, personally, is also a bit of a bucket-list dream to be able to be playing and conducting and watching my show every single night in New York City. I’m happy to be able to take a break from my performing schedule to be able to do that.

What is the hope for The King’s Critique? Do you think that there is potential for it to go even further past this Off-Broadway run?
NZ: I certainly do. I’m an optimistic realist. I hope for the best, but I take things as they come, and I understand how this business works. Until we were about a week into rehearsals, I really had no idea what the future of this show might be. Then I started to see it come together, and I started to see all the pieces moving and this incredible cast. And now that we are into rehearsal, I genuinely see this having an incredible life ahead of it. We are, of course, looking forward to this Off-Broadway run, and we are already having conversations about the next step, whether it be somewhere across the pond or still here in this beautiful city that we love. But we are very confident that there’s a long life ahead of us for The King’s Critique as long as we can get those butts in the seats to come and see us here! 

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.