The trend of deliberately bad theater singing—which began with the glut of plays and musicals about Florence Foster Jenkins between 1999 and 2005, and could also be said to include The Producers—now continues with a musical about The Shaggs. The legendary trio of New Hampshire siblings recorded The Philosophy of the World, one of the best-worst LPs in pop history, in 1969. The album was rescued from obscurity by Terry Adams and Tom Ardolino of the NRBQ, who spread the Shaggs gospel by getting the album reissued. A cult sensation swept around the sisterly squeals in the 1980s and beyond.
The musical, also called The Shaggs—The Philosophy of the World, has its Off Broadway premiere May 12-July 3 at Playwrights Horizon. The cast includes a current Yale School of Drama student, Sarah Sokolovic, who played a more talented and credible rock star in the original Michael McQuilken piece Jib at Yale’s Iseman Theater a couple months ago.