Review Fix Exclusive Midtown International Theatre Festival Coverage: Lauren Gundrum Talks ‘Martin Shkreli’s Game: How Bill Murray Joined the Wu-Tang Clan’

Review Fix chats with Playwright Lauren Gundrum, who discusses her new production “Martin Shkreli’s Game: How Bill Murray Joined the Wu-Tang Clan,” which is set for a run at this year’s Midtown International Theatre Festival.

For more on this production, click here.


MARTIN SHKRELI’S GAME: HOW BILL MURRAY JOINED THE WU-TANG-CLAN by Lauren Gundrum and Joel Esher. Who else but Bill Murray would team-up with the Wu-Tang Clan to steal back their priceless album from pharma bro, Martin Shkreli. Tues 7/19 @ 8:00pm; Wed 7/20 @ 8:30pm; Fri 7/22 @ 6:00pm; Sat 7/23 @4:15pm; Sun 7/24 @ 3:30pm; Sun 7/31 @ 7:30pm.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?


Lauren Gundrum: Martin Shkreli’s Game: How Bill Murray Joined the Wu-Tang Clan was inspired by true events. Wu-Tang really did make a single copy of their album, and bad boy pharma bro Martin Shkreli really did buy it in an auction for $2 million. Then he threatened to destroy it! And the internet started circulating the contract which allowed Wu-Tang – or Bill Murray - one attempt at a “heist or caper” to steal the album back. 


That clause in the contract turned out to be fake, but the internet really wanted to see this heist, so we thought “let’s give the people what they want.” What is more ripe for comedy than throwing Wu-Tang, Bill Murray, and Martin Shkreli together in a musical heist? 
 
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Gundrum: It’s really like playing a game. We were inspired to create this show by reading about these crazy real-life events, but the actual story and song moments came out of exploring the characters and thinking about the most interesting ways they could interact with each other. A lot of it is getting into character, acting out scenes and imagining “how would this person respond to this crazy situation we’re about to throw them in?”


In general, we do most of our work in a room together with Joel improvising at the piano, Lauren spitballing lyric ideas, and us working together to sketch out the story beats and what we want a song or a scene to communicate. It works really well to set up a structure together and then fill in the pieces.

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?


Gundrum: Truth is stranger than fiction. There’s no world in which Martin Shkreli, Wu-Tang, and Bill Murray belong together, and yet here we are. These are all larger-than-life characters with such different personalities, and it’s so much fun to take what we’ve observed of them interacting in real life and then run with it to create something even crazier. 
 
Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process?


Gundrum: This is the first full show we’ve written together, and it has taught us a lot about ourselves as writers – our strengths and weaknesses, what type of comedy we like writing, what we value in a collaborative relationship, and how wonderful and important it is to have a partner who has the same creative vision as you, but who brings different and complementary skills to the table. We’ve had so much fun writing this show and can’t wait to see where it goes!
 
Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of something like this?


Gundrum: Crazy. We started writing this show in December and spent the first few months just exploring and creating the first draft. When we found out we were accepted to MITF, it just became a whirlwind. We held a reading with friends, immediately dove into rewrites, and have also been self-producing at the same time. Everything is happening at once and it’s exhilarating. It’s the first project that either of us has conceived from the beginning, and it’s an unbelievable feeling to know that other people like it enough to put it up in their theater, or act in it, or direct it, or come experience it. It’s almost unreal. 
 
Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?


Gundrum: We are incredibly excited about this project and think it has real potential. Our goal for this production is to get it up in front of an audience, see what’s working and what’s not, continue to develop it, and ultimately to give an audience something fun and entertaining. 


It’s also really important to us to do justice to Bill Murray and Wu-Tang as the heroes, and to Martin Shkreli as the most hated man in America. 
 
Review Fix: What do you think your audiences will enjoy the most?


Gundrum: Seeing Martin Shkreli eviscerated on stage. Watching him get what he deserves, and watching our heroes RZA, GZA, Ghostface Killah, Ghost of Ol’ Dirty Bastard (yes we have a ghost), and Bill Murray give it to him. 
 
Review Fix: What’s next?

Gundrum: Gosh, who knows. We love this show and think it may just be wacky and different enough from what you typically see on stage to go somewhere. We plan to keep workshopping it and hopefully see it produced somewhere else after MITF. We are also kicking around ideas for our next project, so if anyone has the rights to Ghostbusters or Caddyshack and wants to hire us to write more musicals starring Bill Murray … we’ll talk to you. Tell Tim Minchin we’re ready to take over if he decides not to do Groundhog Day for whatever reason.