The Angry Grammarian:
The Musical
Music and lyrics by Jeffrey Barg
Book by David Lee White
Original story by Jeffrey Barg and David Lee White
Greg is "The Angry Grammarian" – a newspaper columnist who’s passionate about predicates, consumed by commas and seduced by subjunctives. Lisa is a more pragmatic grammarian who loves language just as much as he does. What starts as attraction quickly evolves into a darker rivalry. Will grammatical gusto be enough to keep them together? Enlivened by a love of language, The Angry Grammarian is a new musical for anyone who's ever been pissed off that someone used quotation marks "for emphasis."
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Be punctual.
Thursday, March 7, 7:30 pm (preview performance) SOLD OUT
Friday, March 8, 8 pm (opening night) SOLD OUT
Saturday, March 9, 8 pm SOLD OUT
Sunday, March 10, 2 pm (matinee) SOLD OUT
Wednesday, March 13, 10 am (matinee) SOLD OUT
Thursday, March 14, 7:30 pm SOLD OUT
Friday, March 15, 8 pm SOLD OUT
Saturday, March 16, 2 pm (matinee) SOLD OUT
Saturday, March 16, 8 pm (closing night) SOLD OUT
When a performance is sold out, limited walk-up tickets might be available at the door.
Meet the Cast
Musical Selections
"The Comma With Too Many Names"
Recorded March 2024 at Pier Players Theatre Company.
Greg: Benjamin Behrend
Ensemble: Madeline Snyder, Abrham Bogale, Niamh Sherlock, Joshua Gold
Piano: Byron Kho
Guitar: Sean McDermott
Bass: Tamara Kimler
Drums: Ari Miller
"Lie With Me and Lay Me"
Recorded January 29, 2024 at Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania.
Greg: Joshua Gold
Lisa: Chelsea Cylinder
Piano: Pat D'Amato
Guitar: Jeffrey Barg
"Like Subject and Verb"
Recorded June 24, 2017 at Pulley & Buttonhole Theatre Company.
Greg: Jeff Berry
Lisa: Sara Osi Scott
Piano: Cameron Stringham
Guitar: Jeffrey Barg
Bass: Tamara Kimler
Drums: Wes Harris
Recording by Josh Beauchamp
Song Listing
Act 1
The Angry Grammarian - Greg, Ensemble
The Right Space - Greg, Web
Bring in Da Funk, Bring in Da Wagnalls - Lisa, Miriam
I Bet He Never Dangles - Lisa
Grammar-Pocalypse! - Web, Miriam, Greg, Lisa, Ensemble
Like Subject and Verb - Lisa, Greg
Lie With Me and Lay Me - Greg, Lisa
They're There - Greg, Lisa, Barista, Student, Ensemble
The Comma With Too Many Names - Greg, Ensemble
Like Subject and Verb (Reprise) - Greg
Act 2
Whom Cares? - Miriam, Web
Bring in Da Strunk, Bring in Da White - Greg, Lisa, Letter Writers
The Effect of Your Affect - Tim
Apostrophe Anarchy - Greg, Bojangle, Police Officer
The Right Space (Reprise) - Lisa, Miriam
The Angry Grammarian (Reprise) - Greg, Web, Lisa, Miriam
Preposition Proposition - Judge Sapphire, Web, Miriam, Greg, Lisa, Bojangle, Ensemble
Press
We care about grammar. Turns out a lot of other people do too. Click above for links.
From left: Jonathan V. Polanco, Chaz Meyers, Jeff Berry, Yanellie Pabon-Garcia, Dana Corvino, Vida Manalang.
Development History
The Angry Grammarian has had two development workshops: The first, at Pulley & Buttonhole Theatre Company (Jenkintown, Pa.) in 2017, featured Jeff Berry (Greg), Sara Osi Scott (Lisa), Chaz Meyers (Web and others) and Meg Cranney (Miriam and others), and in the band, Jeffrey Barg, Cameron Stringham, Tamara Kimler and Wes Harris. The second, at Players Club of Swarthmore in 2018, featured Jeff Berry (Greg), Yanellie Pabon-Garcia (Lisa), Chaz Meyers (Web), Dana Corvino (Miriam), Jonathan V. Polanco (Mr. Hatch and others) and Vida Manalang (Judge Sapphire and others), and in the band, Jeffrey Barg, Cameron Stringham, Tamara Kimler and Ben Hemsley.
About the Authors
Jeffrey Barg (music and lyrics, original story) is a composer and performer from South Philadelphia. He has composed the music and lyrics for several musicals, including The Ballad of King Henry, a folk adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I, co-created with Benjamin Kamine and Sally Ollove. He started "The Angry Grammarian" as a newspaper column for Philadelphia Weekly in 2007, and published the column in The Philadelphia Inquirer from 2018 to 2024. Read it at theangrygrammarian.substack.com. By day he is a director for Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy.
David Lee White (book, original story) is a New Jersey-based playwright, performer and educator who has worked with Passage Theatre, McCarter Theater, Vivid Stage, PlayPenn, the Bucks County Playhouse and many other institutions. His plays include Fixed (a commission from the NJ Performing Arts Center) as well as Slippery as Sin and Ways to Be Happy (Next Stage Press). He has performed his solo show, Panther Hollow, at multiple venues including Off-Broadway at the United Solo Festival, Arcade Comedy Theatre in Pittsburgh and Passage Theatre. In addition to creating The Angry Grammarian with Jeffrey Barg, David has created the shows ALiEN8 (YouthPLAYS), and Clean Slate with Kate Brennan. He is currently working with writer Maribeth Theroux on the screenplay Jacqueline Remembers All of This, based on his play Blood: a Comedy. He is a MAP Fund recipient for his work on the OK Trenton Project at Passage Theatre as well as his work on Clean Slate. He and Kate Brennan were finalists for the Jonathan Larson Grant.
When and Where Can I See It?
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