Kafka Musical Triumphs in Edinburgh!

Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical! With Puppets! recently wrapped up a triumphant run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, playing to more than 2,000 people across 26 performances (including four sell-outs) at one of the top four venues at the Fringe. Praise for the show was universal, including 10 four and five-star reviews and overwhelmingly positive notices from publications including Playbill, The Scotsman, Theatre Weekly, and many more. Audiences were similarly blown away, calling the show “clever, surprisingly respectful and utterly brilliant.”

“This production surpassed our expectations in every way,” said Matt Chiorini, who co-wrote and co-produced the show with Travis Newton. “To move this show onto the world’s largest stage was a gigantic undertaking, and we’re beyond thrilled with the outcome.”

As one of the first products of the department of visual and performing arts’ new Musical Theatre Incubator, the show was made possible with support from the D.E. French and Stanley W. Metcalf Foundations, the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity, the Friends of the Arts Fund, the O’Leary International Travel Grant program, the Research and Development Committee, and dozens of alumni and individuals who supported the show’s move to Edinburgh.

The show was directed by Emmy-award winning director and Broadway performer Alan Muraoka with puppet design by Spencer Lott who is known for the amazing puppets in shows including Saturday Night Live and Sesame Street. The cast included Blake Du Bois, Morgan Smith ‘19, Kaia Fitzgerald and Luis Rivera, with musical direction by Andrew David Sotomayor and technical direction by John Czajkowski.

Also traveling with the show (thanks to support from the Friends of the Arts Fund) were Araya Cox ‘24 (stage manager) and Daniella Padinha ‘25 (marketing coordinator). “There’s nothing quite like traveling with students and helping them hone their craft,” said Newton. “We absolutely could not have produced and performed this show without Araya and Daniella as team members.” Shown in photo above, from left, are Newton, Muraoka and Chiorini.

What’s next for the show? “Stay tuned,” says Chiorini. “There’s more to come.”