THE FAKE HUSBAND Comes to Soft Brain Theatre Company Next Month

Soft Brain Theatre Company will present The Fake Husband: A Musical Comedy adapted from Flaminio Scala's 16th-century Commedia dell’Arte play, Il Finto Marito. This production will be the USA premiere of Rosalind Kerr’s 2020 translation of the Scala play. The Fake Husband: A Musical Comedy runs Off-Broadway at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater from May 9 - May 19.

Directed by SBTC Co-Founding Artistic Director, Nicole Tsarouhas, The Fake Husband infuses the timeless charm of Commedia dell'Arte, vibrant musical theatre elements, and Soft Brain’s signature bawdy physical comedy. The musical’s original score is composed by TikTok’s Oliver Richman, whose Song-A-Day challenge has received popular acclaim.

“The Fake Husband was a surprisingly progressive story before we adapted anything at all,” said Tsarouhas. “We were really excited to find a centuries-old Commedia text that had queerness and feminism at its center. Though the titular character is a husband, the story is really about womanhood, a woman’s role in carving her own story, and how she finds and defines her own agency. This text really speaks to the timelessness of Commedia in that way; it’s over 400 years old and is yet so aware of society’s rules of gender and power, and uses over-the-top humor as a vehicle for digestible criticism.”

In the uproarious tale of The Fake Husband: A Musical Comedy, tensions ignite when a married woman's past flame reappears in town, inciting a fierce battle between passionate memories and enduring love. Meanwhile, her father stirs the pot by announcing his intention to marry a much younger woman. Amidst this romantic turmoil, mischievous servants hatch elaborate schemes to trick their masters, matchmake the rightful lovers, and find pleasure for themselves.

“The characters of The Fake Husband are fearlessly connected to their hearts and inner children—things I’m constantly trying to rediscover,”said show composer Oliver Richman. “I usually grow the most when I put myself in spaces that utterly terrify me. I’m learning this with my Write a Song Every Day of 2024 challenge. So when my pals at Soft Brain asked if I wanted to write some songs for an actual show (something I’ve never done before), I was immediately so scared and so interested. Working with Soft Brain has helped me grow in ways I didn’t know I could.”