Viral 'Cult Song' Musical SUNDAY BRUNCH to Play Laurie Beechman Theatre

The Laurie Beechman Theatre will present Sunday Brunch, a new musical by Ernie Bird & Rachel Aberman, partially based on the authors' experiences of familial expectations as a Ukrainian immigrant and a Jewish American, respectively. The musical follows Becca, a recent graduate from a hardworking family, as she navigates a choice between going to grad school or settling down with her college boyfriend, all while trapped at a celebratory brunch in her college town's diner. Spiraling into mimosa-fueled existential dread and panic, Becca is forced to abandon her people-pleasing ways and take responsibility for her life path for the first time.

Sunday Brunch features "Stuck a.k.a. the Cult Song," which has garnered over 14 million views across Instagram and TikTok, and over 400 thousand streams on Spotify. The song, centered on the side characters Willow-a waitress in a cult-and Andrew-an underprivileged, closeted young man dreaming of stealing his Best Friend from Becca-has been translated and performed worldwide.

Ernie Bird, co-bookwriter and composer, says, "Rachel and I met at a strange time, when we felt like two years had been stolen from our lives due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. We felt like recent graduates, essentially kids. We watched each other grow in less than a year, pay rent, and get real jobs, all while navigating pressure from our Jewish and Ukrainian parents, respectively. We also felt like, despite being all-A students with childhoods packed with constant commitments, tutoring, and hobbies, we were not quite where we wanted to be. With all that effort, the expectations were high and unreasonable. We spoke to many of our friends and noticed a similar pattern. A lot of zillennials were pushed to their limits to make their parents proud, only to not know what to do after graduation. The meritocracy cult has done a lot of harm to our generation. The pressure to be good can be unhealthy in our unpredictable world. We wanted to write a piece that spoke to this widespread phenomenon among our generation of '90s-born kids. Maybe we can encourage more thoughtful parenting for the generations to come."