Arts & Entertainment
New voices, new works
Signature takes daring chance on two new musicals by local composers
Matt Conner (left) and Adam Gwon, composers of two new musicals on the boards now at Signature. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
‘The Boy Detective Fails’
‘The Hollow’
Through Oct. 16
Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington
703-820-9771
In a rather bold move, Signature Theatre, the Arlington-based company that is best known for doing pared down takes on fat Broadway hits, is opening its fall season with not one but two world premiere musicals in full production in rep. And what’s more, the shows, “The Boy Detective Fails” and “The Hollow,” are the new works of talented rising composers Adam Gwon and Matt Conner respectively, and not the latest offerings from a pair of household names.
As part of Signature’s American Musical Voices Project: The Next Generation, Conner and Gwon (both gay) were each commissioned to develop full length musicals. Not long after receiving his commission, New York-based Gwon met with Eric Schaeffer (Signature’s gay artistic director) to discuss project ideas: “I was determined to do ‘The Boy Detective Fails.,’” Gwon says. “When I’d read it several years earlier, I knew instantly that it was something I had to make into a musical.”
Adapted from the same-titled popular novel by Joe Meno (also the musical’s librettist), “The Boy Detective Fails” tells the story of famed kid sleuth Billy Argo who returns to his hometown after 10 years in a mental institution to solve the mystery of his sister’s death. Hardly the stuff of the Nancy Drew series, but still Gwon says he approached his contemporary musical theater score in childlike way, “trying to create a world full of wonder that is at times earnest and heartfelt and then changes to scary.”
Conner’s story is different. He says Schaeffer suggested he develop a chilling musical reinterpretation of Washington Irving’s classic “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”: “My first thought was I better re-read this,” says Conner, 41. “All I could remember was it had a guy without a head, but of course there a lot more including themes of country vs. city and what it likes to be an outsider.”
After selecting Hunter Foster (librettist and Broadway actor) to write the book for “The Hollow,” Conner concentrated on the show’s score, which he describes as having a classical feel.
“It begins very structured and grounded and then soars off into my own ethereal world,” he says.
Conner successfully mined Irving’s text for lyrics, finding both vivid imagery and beautifully expressed phrases. He also uses the townsfolk’s Dutch language to accentuate city boy, English speaker Ichabod Crane’s otherness.
Growing up on a dairy farm in Stephens City, Va., Conner learned to play piano by ear and became involved in his church choir. He attended the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester. After graduating he began doing musical theater in the D.C. area and eventually found an artistic home at Signature.
As a boy in Baltimore, Gwon displayed an affinity for music. At 3, he was climbing up on the bench and plunking out tunes on the family piano. His parents smartly fostered his interest.
“I experienced music and theater on different tracks: drama club and after school classical piano lessons” says Gwon, 31. Eventually it came together in college (NYU’s undergraduate drama program) where he first wrote music for student productions. Inspired by that experience and the work of a freshman year musical theater professor who unexpectedly died mid-semester, Gwon was hooked.
Both composers have known success. Gwon’s musical about young New Yorkers “Ordinary Days” enjoyed a successful Off-Broadway run, and Conner’s Edgar Allen Poe musical paean “Nevermore” was popularly produced at Signature five seasons ago. More recently Conner completed a yet-to-be-produced musical adaptation of “Night of the Living Dead” in collaboration with local actor Stephen Gregory Smith (who plays the title role in “The Boy Detective Fails”). Apparently Conner isn’t concerned about becoming the go-to guy for spooky musicals: “I may be a poor composer most of the year, but hopefully every October when Halloween rolls around, I’ll earn a lot of royalties.”
Among possible future projects, Gwon is considering composing a show based on Harvard University’s “Secret Court” of 1920. Spurred by the suicide of a gay undergraduate, the university created a disciplinary tribunal responsible for investigating a wide circle of sexually adventurous gays on campus. Those found guilty were punished with suspension or expulsion.
Conner is also interested in setting the LGBT experience to music with something related to Stonewall.
But for the moment, Conner and Gwon remain focused on succeeding at Signature.
Glitterati Productions held the “Studio 69” party at Bunker on Friday, May 8.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier returns June 13 to kick off D.C. Pride week
Pride on the Pier officially launches Pride Week in D.C.
The Washington Blade’s annual Pride on the Pier celebration returns to The Wharf on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 4-9 p.m., bringing thousands of LGBTQ community members and allies together for an unforgettable waterfront celebration to kick off Pride week in Washington, D.C.
Now in its eighth year, Washington Blade Pride on the Pier extends the city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility to the bustling Wharf waterfront with an exciting array of activities and entertainment for all ages. The District Pier will offer DJs, dancing, drag, and other entertainment. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older.
“Pride on the Pier has become one of the signature moments of Pride in D.C.,” said Lynne Brown, publisher of the Washington Blade. “There’s nothing like watching our community come together on the waterfront with live music and incredible energy as we kick off Pride week.”
Pride on the Pier is free and open to the public, with VIP tickets available for exclusive pier access to the Dockmaster Building. To purchase VIP tickets visit www.prideonthepierdc.com/vip.
Additional entertainment announcements, sponsor activations, and event details will be released in the coming weeks.
Event Details:
📍 Location: District Pier at The Wharf (101 District Sq SW, Washington, DC)
📅 Dates: Friday, 13, 2026
⏱️ 4-9PM
🎟️ VIP Tickets: www.PrideOnThePierDC.com/VIP
Theater
National tour of ‘Gatsby’ comes to National Theatre
Out actor Edward Staudenmayer talks playing the show’s gangster
‘The Great Gatsby’
May 12-24
The National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
$59-$196
Thenationaldc.com
Often dubbed “The Great American Novel” for its depiction of ambition and self-invention alongside the reversals of success, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” says it all in a fast read.
Set against the excesses and energy of the Roaring Twenties, “The Great Gatsby,” novel and now the same-titled hit Broadway musical with a jazz/pop original score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen, tells the story of Nick Carraway and his friendship with Jay Gatsby, an enigmatic millionaire intent on reuniting with ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan.
It was during a four-month 2025 run in Seoul, South Korea, that out actor Edward Staudenmayer first played the show’s heavy, Meyer Wolfsheim, a gangster who helped Gatsby make his murkily acquired fortune. As Meyer, Staudenmayer opens the second act with, appropriately enough, “Shady.”
Now three months into a year-long North American tour, the show is poised to enjoy a brief run at Washington’s National Theatre (5/12-5/24).
While putting on his eyeliner prior to a recent Wednesday matinee at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre, the upstate New York-based actor shared about Gatsby and a life in theater.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Despite your good looks and terrific voice, you’re rarely the leading the man. How is that?
EDWARD STAUDENMAYER: I’m definitely a character man. I’ve been painting lines on my face to play old men since I was in high school. I was the youngest freshman in college playing old Uncle Sorin [in Chekhov’s “The Seagull”].
There have been many villains. Some darker than others. Meyer Wolfsheim is a very bad guy, but he doesn’t haunt me once I’m offstage. I play a lot of pickleball.
BLADE: Is it true that like so many of Fitzgerald’s characters, Wolfsheim is famously based on someone the writer encountered in life.
STAUDENMEYER: That’s true, Wolfsheim is pretty much a direct portrayal of real-life mobster and 1919 World Series fixer [Arnold Rothstein].
BLADE: When did the 1925 novel first surface on your radar?
STAUDENMAYER: Like many of us, I was assigned “The Great Gatsby” in high school. It was short, and filled with sex and illicit activities. I thought it was great. Definitely wasn’t a Judy Blume novel.
Interestingly, the book wasn’t originally a huge a success for Fitzgerald, but because it was about war and having the girl at home, they gave it to GIs leaving for WWII. After returning, a lot of those guys went on the GI Bill and became English teachers. They assigned the book to their students.
BLADE The idea that the book’s first-person narrator, Nick Carraway, is gay and enamored with Jay Gatsby is long discussed among readers and scholars. Does the musical touch on that?
STAUDENMAYER: Yes, there’s conjecture about Jay and Nick, and it’s implied in our show. It’s also implied about Jordan Baker, Jay’s fleeting romantic interest. Ultimately, she’s a confirmed bachelor, and a professional golfer who only wears pants.
Our performers are really good. Josh Grasso who plays Nick is fantastic. I’ve had to stop watching him in his last scene; it’s not good for Meyer Wolfsheim to take his curtain call crying. Our Gatsby, Jake David Smith, is good too. He’s gorgeous like Superman and sings like an angel.
BLADE: Do you ever imagine backstory for your characters whose sexuality is undefined?
STAUDENMAYER: I do, but not with Wolfsheim. I don’t see it. I’m trying to be as butch as possible with this ruthless killer.
BLADE: Have you had to do that in your career?
STAUDENMAYER: For a long time, I wore a mask to hide my gayness. I worked hard on being believable, that I was into the girl or that I was a tough guy.
It’s a different world now, and it’s so refreshing to be around the younger actors today; they’re remarkably open and comfortable.
BLADE: What was your coming of age like?
STAUDENMAYER: I played high school football in Palm Springs [he chuckles, alluding to the arid gay mecca], and I was pretty good too. But much to the chagrin of my parents and coaches, I quit the team to act in our senior year play. My super butch dad played semi-pro football and he was an ex-cop. I’m named after him. While I didn’t become my dad, I’ve played him often on stage. He was a true Gaston [the bumptious rival in “Beauty and the Beast”]. And like Gaston, he used antlers in all his interior decorating.
BLADE: Did he live to see your success in theater?
STAUDENMAYER: He did. Life was challenging growing up but the last 10 years of his life we couldn’t get off the phone with each other [his voice catches with emotion]. He accepted me entirely, and we became very close.
BLADE: Looking ahead, is there a part you’d especially like to play?
STAUDENMAYER: Like all baritones I’d love to play Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd.” I’ve come close but it hasn’t happened yet. There’s still time.
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