The Trouble With Dead Boyfriends
Music and Lyrics by Alex Petti, Book and Lyrics by Annie Pulsipher
“… everything you'd want from a new musical in the West Village's cultural hub—and then some: clever, campy, and incredibly charming. In a word, it's that rarest of things: an entirely original musical that's practically perfect in every way, and a whole lot of fun besides." - StageBuddy
Selected for Discovering Broadway incubation 2023-2024
Winner Best Score 2018 at SheNYC
Winner Best in Fest 2017 Premiere Premieres! Festival at MCL Chicago
The Trouble With Dead Boyfriends follows best friends Stella, Grace, and Madison, who have always dreamed of finding the perfect boyfriends. Over the course of the week before prom at George A. Romero Memorial High, the three girls make increasingly desperate compromises with their monster boyfriends to hold on to their dream of “a love that lasts forever.” However, during prom, the friends realize that their love for one another is stronger and more rewarding than their relationships, and slay their monster boyfriends. The Trouble With Dead Boyfriends is a gory, feminist comedy that empowers and centers women.
"A driving pop-punk score, with shades of 50s malt shop bops sprinkled on top for good measure." - ChicagoLand Musical Theatre
Learn more about the show at deadboyfriendsmusical.com
The Hometown Tour
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Alex Petti
O’Neill Semi-Finalist, 2022
The Hometown Tour is an autobiographical punk concert experience about adolescent struggles with mental illness. It follows a teenage Alex in his journey through high school as he discovers punk music and folklore about his hometown. Along with his band, The Nervous Wrecks, Alex uses punk music and narrative storytelling to tell an urgent story about mental health and offer new paths forward for people who are struggling.
The opening song of the show that details Alex’s lifelong struggles with mental illness and his desire to cure them, asking the question “Will there always be something wrong with me?”
Alex is taken under the wing of his older cousin Lauren, who’s also a musician in the local rock scene. She tells Alex of her departed friend, Tommy, who died in a car accident 6 years ago. Tommy becomes Alex’s idol and he tries to replicate Tommy’s path.
In Development
Wash The Color Out (Book, Music, and Lyrics by Alex Petti)
Wash The Color Out is a retrospective musical about the generational effects of assimilation. Alex tells the true story of his grandfather, a Lebanese immigrant, growing up in Boston and struggling with the messiness of Americanization. Alex performs the songs he’s written as a singer-songwriter on guitar and reflects on how his grandfather’s choices affect him now.
The opening number of the show, Dry Clean Only tells the story of three generations of Alex’s family.