Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
A New Musical 

Book by Jeffrey Lane
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbeck
Based on the film by Pedro Almodόvar

"…a joyous evening: an affectionate and defiant tribute to female resilience." - Sarah Hemming, Financial Times, 2015

Madrid, 1987.

Meet Pepa, an actress… Candela, a model and her best friend… LucÍa, the wife of Pepa’s lover, Ivan… Marisa, the fiancé of LucÍa and Ivan's son, Carlos… and Paulina, LucÍa’s lawyer and Ivan's newest lover: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

From Tony Award winning composer David Yazbek (Tootise, The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), comes a musical comedy of tangled hearts, tongues, lies and lives. Thankfully, we have a Taxi Driver, who not only knows the streets of Madrid, but can also help us unravel this farce and navigate all of these crazy hearts.

"…gloriously camp, yet seriously heartfelt, celebration of female powers of survival and self-emancipation." - Paul Taylor, The Independent, 2015

Adapted from Pedro Almodόvar’s Oscar nominated film, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (1988), by book writer Jeffrey Lane, Women on the Verge is a chaotic celebration of female fortitude, and a tribute to the women of Spain, who Almodόvar believes remained strong during the Franco regime. But at its lovesick heart, it’s a story about us. A story about people who are trying to genuinely connect to each other and who are desperately looking for answers. But perhaps the most pressing question of them all is: 'What’s in the gazpacho?'

"Best of all is a surprisingly engaging score by David Yazbeck, who deploys a variety of Latin rhythms to make everything from patter songs to wistful laments stand out from the generic-Broadway crowd." - Richard Zoglin, Time, 2010