Amber Ruffin, Kevin Sciretta, and David A. Schmoll are the creators of Bigfoot!, starring Grey Henson as a lovable, misunderstood version of the mythic monster.
Come February 11, New York City Center‘s Stage I will transform into the neon-hued landscape of Muddirt, where the local glow doesn’t come from the sun or city lights, but from radioactive sludge and the megawatt smile of… a monster?
This is the setting for Bigfoot!, a new musical comedy that reimagines one of the most enduring figures in American folklore. While the legend of Bigfoot has spent decades as a blurry image in a forest, this musical brings the creature out of the shadows as an unlikely, lovable hero. As Bigfoot navigates a community that is as dysfunctional as it is colorful, the classic monster myth becomes a sharp exploration of what it means to belong and a playful jab at the eccentricities and divisions of our modern world.
This project is the latest from Tony Award-nominated writer Amber Ruffin, the Late Night with Seth Meyers alum who became the first Black woman to write for a late-night network talk show and recently brought contemporary heart to the Broadway adaptation of Some Like It Hot. For Ruffin, Bigfoot! is a passion project that she’s been developing for over a decade with co-author Kevin Sciretta, her frequent collaborator and a veteran of renowned improv troupe Second City. They teamed up with co-composer David A. Schmoll, also from Second City, to create a satirical world that feels as biting as it does absurd.
The show’s political edge centers on the town’s deceptive mayor (Saturday Night Live alum Alex Moffat), who uses the elusive Bigfoot as a convenient distraction for the townspeople. “We started writing the show in 2014, and it just became more relevant because of the oppressive administration we’re under,” Ruffin said. “Bigfoot was always a scapegoat for a crooked mayor. And it’s so funny because we were like, ‘Ha ha ha, isn’t this funny? Can you imagine if the person in charge was really just hoodwinking everyone? Ha ha ha, dang.’ And then it came true.”
Placing a pure-hearted protagonist in a decaying environment was the catalyst for the musical’s unique tone. “We wanted to create a character who was a bubbly optimist, someone who was just the sunshine in every room,” said Sciretta. “And then we were looking for the exact opposite place to put him in. It illustrates what a great guy he is that he sees beauty and magic in this rundown, disadvantageous place. Also, just for comedy’s sake, it’s fun to see a monster run through places and sing songs and be joyful next to barrels of toxic waste.”
That monster is played by Grey Henson, a Tony nominee known for his standout comedic turns in Mean Girls, Shucked, and Elf on Broadway. Henson’s Bigfoot is far from terrifying; the actor aims to bring a gentle vulnerability to the legendary creature.
“At the end of the day, he is just this really sweet, misunderstood thing, person, beast, being,” Henson said. “I connect to the character a lot because he’s an outsider, and we have all felt that way at some point. There’s a lot of simplicity and earnestness that’s easy to tap into. He doesn’t see himself the way everyone else sees him. What he ultimately wants is what most of us want: connection and community.”
The challenge for director/choreographer Danny Mefford has been maintaining that simplicity amid a heightened world. Mefford, who staged the current Off-Broadway revival of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, brings to this new musical a seasoned eye for character-driven comedy.
“You have to just really, really commit to the stakes and not make fun of the person you’re out there to play,” Mefford said. “You have to take their issues seriously and let the comedy live inside that because the comedy is situational. If it doesn’t have that depth of spirit underneath it and you don’t really care about them, you might laugh up here” — he said pointing to his face — “but you don’t laugh down here” — pointing to his heart.
Fellow cast members Crystal Lucas-Perry (Ain’t No Mo’ Tony nominee) and Jade Jones (Beauty and the Beast at Maryland’s Olney Theatre) spoke to that depth, highlighted through the town’s journey away from a groupthink mentality, Lucas-Perry gave as an example.
“What I find throughout the show is that this way of thinking slowly starts to pull apart, and people actually begin to form their own opinions,” she said. “It only takes one person to step away from the path everyone else is following. And when it comes to our show, we have a moment when the person we’re fearing, or the person we think we know, is actually the person that’s setting the example for us all.”
Jones believes the musical’s strength lies in its relatability. “It’s perfect because it has all the elements of musical theatre,” they said. “It of course has music. It has comedy. It has a great script. But it also has a lot of heart and a lot of depth, and we really don’t brush past that at all. We don’t brush past the earnestness of the story.”
Ultimately, Bigfoot! aims to redefine what it means to be a monster. While the title character is a hairy figure living on the outskirts, the musical suggests that terrors are often found in the town square, too. “Remember that a monster is often just how we describe someone’s appearance,” Sciretta said. “But the real monsters, the ones who are truly scary and destructive, are the well-groomed people whose actions cause real harm in our world.”
Ruffin hopes this message subtly resonates beneath the laughter. “And while they were laughing, while they were giggling, while they were crying, while they were singing along,” she said, “they got a new angle on the way things are.”
Get Bigfoot! tickets now.
Photo credit: Bigfoot! in Off-Broadway rehearsals. (Photos by Austin Ruffer)