Cover photo courtesy of Reduced Shakespeare Company

Western Civilization! The Complete Musical (abridged)

book and lyrics by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, original music composed by Nick Graham, additional material by Dee Ryan

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PERFORMANCE RIGHTS

Note

118-page PDF piano/vocal score for production. View Perusal.
Recordings consist of 33 WAV backing tracks for production.
Please note that the cast recording is available on iTunes under the title THE COMPLETE MILLENNIUM MUSICAL (abridged).

Description

History like you’ve never experienced it before. As a musical. You’re gonna laugh like it’s 1499, and the music will knock you out!

Production Info

Cast: 3 total (1 female, 2 male, as written; gender-diverse and/or expanded casts welcome)
Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
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Reviews

Press Quotes

“In some ways, it’s their funniest presentation yet … With a musical score that gives the script bite and zest, the three performers ‘turn history inside out and upside down, cramming 1,000 facts into 90 minutes.’ By the end they have given us a nonsensical but hilarious rendition of each major epoch.” —⁠Andrew Warshaw, The Guardian

“Singing that ‘history ain’t what it used to be’ the three-person ensemble put a deranged spin on the events of the past 1,000 years … Mixing broad physical humor with sly satire, the three sang, disco-danced and adopted phony accents and even phonier facial hair to view the highlights (and low points) of history, from Leif Ericsson to the Y2K bug … The show was consistently hilarious.” —⁠Donna Freedman, Anchorage Daily News

“The show, overall, is a riot … Don’t miss it. After all, a comedy this funny only comes along once or twice a millennium.” —⁠Patrick Meighan, New Hampshire Telegraph

“… combining smarty-pants irreverence with physical buffoonery and street-wise smarts … it touches greatness.” —⁠Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

About the Author

Author

  • Reed Martin

    Reed Martin is best-known for his work as a Writer/Performer/Director/Producer with the Reduced Shakespeare Company with whom he has toured the world since 1989 and co-created eleven stage shows. He has performed in forty-seven states and eleven countries, including shows at The White House, Madison Square Garden, London's West End, The Lincoln Center, and The Kennedy Center. He has written for the BBC, TBS, National Public Radio, Britain's Channel Four, RTE Ireland, Public Radio International, The Washington Post and Vogue magazine. Reed's work has been nominated for an Olivier Award in London, a Helen Hayes Award in Washington, DC, and a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critic's Circle Award. Along with his RSC partner Austin Tichenor, Reed was awarded the 2025 Berger Award by the international Shakespeare Theatre Association in recognition of outstanding talent and dedication to the works of William Shakespeare. He lives in Northern California with his wife, who is much funnier than he is.

  • Austin Tichenor

    "A man of letters in the theatre" (Peter Marks, Washington Post), Austin Tichenor's "intellectual vaudevilles" (Stephen Holden, New York Times) have been produced Off-Broadway, in London’s West End, at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and in theaters across America and around the world, including American Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Atlanta Shakespeare Company, San Francisco's Marines Memorial Theater, Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, Bath Theater Royal, Gielgud Theatre, Criterion Theatre, Jerusalem Theatre, Montreal's Just For Laughs Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, to name a few. He's the co-artistic director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, for whom he's co-written ten stage comedies (all published and licensed by Broadway Play Publishing), the short film The Ring Reduced (for UK's Channel 4), a 6-part BBC World Service radio series, two TV pilots and several unproduced others, and the illustrated children's book Pop-Up Shakespeare. An alum of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, Austin's also written over 25 plays and musicals for young audiences, two published adaptations (FRANKENSTEIN and DANCING ON THE CEILING), and stage versions of Jasper Fforde's novel The Eyre Affair and Christopher Moore's New York Times bestseller Fool; co-created the illustrated children's book Daisy The Littlest Zombie; worked in story development for Disney Feature Animation; and is a monthly contributor to the Folger Shakespeare Library's culture blog "Shakespeare & Beyond." Austin is also an actor, director, and the producer and host of the Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast, the world's longest-running (since 2006!) theater podcast. His script THE BIBLE: THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD (abridged) received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best New Play, and you can find him on the socials or his website TheShakespeareance.com.

  • Nick Graham

    Nick Graham is a British vocalist, songwriter, flautist, pianist, and bassist. He was one of the original members of the British progressive rock band Atomic Rooster from 1969 to 1970 and from 1998 to 2001 composed music for the Reduced Shakespeare Company.

About the Book

Book Information

Publisher BPPI
Publication Date 11/1/2002
Pages 72
ISBN 9780881456820

Special Notes

Special Notes

Licensees are required to include the original stage producers credits in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:

Originally produced and toured by Reduced Shakespeare Company

The following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
Western Civilization! The Complete Musical (abridged) is produced
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com

Productions

Upcoming and Recent Productions

Professional


8/23/2018 – 9/1/2018
The Barnstormers Theatre
Tamworth, NH

Nonprofessional


12/17/2020 – 12/19/2020
Langham Creek High School
Houston, TX

11/18/2020 – 11/21/2020
Adrian College
Adrian, MI

4/25/2020 – 4/25/2020
Macalester College
St. Paul, MN

11/21/2019 – 11/23/2019
Washington And Jefferson College
Washington, PA