By Kristen Nevarez Schweizer

October 3, 2025

When I judge a major new musical, I use a simple sniff test: could I want to attend an amateur production of this someday? Would this script and score—stripped of a big budget, professional performers, and creative choreography—still sparkle? For Huzzah! A Musical Comedy by Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe at The Old Globe Theatre, my answer is an emphatic yes.

Benjamin and O’Keefe, writing partners and spouses, have made their reputations on sharp adaptations—writing separately on Mean Girls, Heathers, Real Women Have Curves, Come Fall in Love – The DDLJ Musical (which also premiered at The Old Globe), and together on multiple Tony Award-winning triumph Legally Blonde. But with Huzzah!, they’ve stepped into fresh territory to deliver a wholly original work that is refreshing, heartfelt, and fun.

Huzzah! is the story of two rival sisters (brilliantly played by Liisa LaFontaine and Cailen Fu) who inherit a Renaissance Faire from their father. Their dynamic and setting is fertile ground for Benjamin’s comic, fully fleshed character writing, and O’Keefe’s genre-hopping musical instincts. Their wordplay skewers, the music swells, and the relationships—even between ensemble players—anchor the fast-paced humor. 

Their misfit characters aren’t caricatures; they are fully human, and each eccentricity is handled with love. The Ren Faire is a metaphor, but it’s also a playground where people who might not be appreciated elsewhere get to reign in a new kingdom. In an interview with Becca Meyers, Nell explained, “We thought maybe there was a fun workplace comedy about people having to cope with a modern office that’s pretending to be in the 1600s.” O’Keefe finished, “So we went [to Ren Fairs] looking for satirical fodder. But no one was stupid. Everyone was good at something.” This respect is apparent and elevates their story.

 When I can imagine seeing a high school drama department cracking this open a decade from now and finding the show just as buoyant and worthy, I know the writing is excellent. Even Nell and O’Keefe’s madcap cosplay choices deepen each character rather than distract from them. Their humor isn’t chained to current memes or cultural references, and the heartwrenching twist in the second act isn’t a cheap trick. This show is rooted in human folly and familial conflict—the marrow of theatre.

A particular standout example is ensemble member Troubador Tim (played by a committed Matt Dasilva), a character who was likely chosen last in recess dodgeball and grows up to be a knight’s lackey with a chip on his shoulder. Troubadour Tim’s desperation for respect (and bully behavior once he attains a whiff of power) is a minor plotline in the multi-layered story, yet moving and memorable.

Walking out of The Old Globe, I kept thinking: this is what new musicals should feel like. Not a derivative product engineered to cash in on nostalgia, nor a star vehicle, but a show built from the ground up on the conviction that great story and song together create magic that compels.

With Huzzah!, Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe have written themselves into the lineage of creators whose work will outlast the moment. It’s witty and warm, and oddballs are seen not as outliers but as the heart of human comedy.