In 2006, we decided that writing, staging, memorizing and performing new plays — all in just 24 hours — simply wasn’t enough of a challenge. Thus, The 24 Hour Musicals were born. The Musicals featured the same marquee talent up-close and personal, featuring singing, dancing and a live band for musical theater’s most ambitious high-wire act. 

The 24 Hour Musicals were designed to be an intimate, off-Broadway counterpart to our larger fall gala. They launched in 2006 with a secret show, featuring a musical by the late great David Rakoff. Since then, we’ve regularly gathered to create and perform four brand new short musicals in a single day, rotating between various NYC venues including the Linda Gross Theater at Atlantic Theater Company, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, and the Lynn F. Angelson Theater at Classic Stage Company, among others.

The marathon process for The 24 Hour Musicals begins the night before the performance, when writers and composers team up to collaborate on brand new 15-20 minute musicals crafted overnight. Rehearsals begin the following morning, with actors, directors, musicians, choreographers, music directors and more coming together to bring these new musicals to life. The result is a madcap night of theater — you never know when you’ll see SNL’s Rachel Dratch as a musical theater star, or Jake Gyllenhaal in quarantine singing a love song by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire, or John Mulaney belting out a tune in a diaper as “Baby Onesie.”

Musicals Alumni

Past participants include Aimee Mann, Alex Moffat, Amber Ruffin, America Ferrera, Ana Gastyer, Annette O’Toole, Anthony Rapp, Ashley Nicole Black, Aya Cash, Bebe Neuwirth, Ben Folds, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, David Krumholtz, Bonnie Milligan, Edie Falco, George Salazar, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Javier Muñoz, Jesse Eisenberg, John Mulaney, Jonathan Coulton, Lea DeLaria, Merle Dandridge, Nat Wolff, Noah Galvin, Norm Lewis, Rachel Dratch, Retta, Savion Glover, Shoshana Bean, Tracie Thoms, Wayne Brady, Will Swenson and many more.