RYAN RAFTERY: THE BALLAD OF JONBENET RAMSEY is Coming to Joe's Pub
Performances will run from 12 - 17.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jul. 22, 2025
Ryan Raftery will return to Joe’s Pub with his latest creation, The Ballad of JonBenét Ramsey, a satire about our society’s insatiable obsession with true crime.
Opening September 12th, The Ballad of JonBenét Ramsey follows Jessica Feltcher, a lonely skincare marketing manager who turns her fixation on the infamous child beauty queen’s unsolved murder into a hit podcast—and slowly unravels in the process. As her fame grows, so does her detachment from reality in this high-camp, high-stakes musical featuring parody songs of classic tunes from Kiss, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue and more.
A hilariously unhinged look at justice, media, and the blurred line between fandom and fanaticism.
Ryan Raftery: THE BALLAD OF JONBENET RAMSEY opens Friday, September 12, and runs through Wednesday, September 17. Tickets and more details are available
online, over the phone (212-967-7555) and in-person at The Public Theater’s box
office (425 Lafayette, NYC).
“The idea came from an article that said many women fall asleep to true crime podcasts. There’s something strangely soothing about danger at a safe distance —it’s like a roller coaster: the thrill without the consequence,” said Raftery. “I became obsessed with why women, in particular, are drawn to these stories, and no case has lived in the public imagination quite like JonBenét Ramsey’s. It has everything — wealth, beauty, media frenzy, botched police work, and an ending we still don’t have. I wrote this show to explore that obsession, to poke fun at it, and to ask what happens when fascination turns into fixation — when the story you’re telling starts to unravel you.”
The stageplay and parody lyrics are written by Raftery, set to songs by artists as varied as Lady Gaga. Kylie Minogue, Kiss and Alan Menken. Story by Ryan Raftery & Jay Turton. Stage direction is by Jay Turton, musical direction by Brandon James Gwinn and wig design by Isaac Davidson.
Ryan Raftery has appeared on television in Ugly Betty, What I Like About You, Malcolm in the Middle and, most memorably, on Law and Order: SVU, where he warmed hearts all across America as Dennis Faber, the lovable Amish teenager with measles. He has written 10 shows, including the solo shows “Ryan Raftery & Friends: A Solo Act” and “Ryan Raftery’s It Gets Worse.” His celebrity bio-musicals based on the lives of Anna Wintour, Andy Cohen, Martha Stewart, Calvin Klein, Ivanka Trump, Andy Warhol and Kris Jenner have sold out from coast to coast and have garnered praise in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine and many others.
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