The Trouble With Dead Boyfriends

Music and Lyrics by Alex Petti, Book and Lyrics by Annie Pulsipher

“… everything you'd want from a new musical in the West Village's cultural hub—and then some: clever, campy, and incredibly charming. In a word, it's that rarest of things: an entirely original musical that's practically perfect in every way, and a whole lot of fun besides." - StageBuddy

Love Like Ours - In the opening number of The Trouble With Dead Boyfriends, our trio of heroines (Madison, Grace, and Stella) meet their new boyfriends that they summoned using the Undying Love Spell.

Creature of the Night - Stella’s vampire boyfriend, Lucian, wants to turn her into a vampire by sucking her blood. But she’s not sure she’s ready yet. Lucian (and his wingmen) try to convince her to let him bite her anyway.

The Hometown Tour

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Alex Petti

NAMT Finalist (2024), Normal Ave NAPSeries Finalist (2023), O’Neill Semi-Finalist (2022, 2025)

Selected for Development at The Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals (2025)

The Hometown Tour tells the autobiographical story of Alex and his band, The Nervous Wrecks, on the final night of their nationwide tour of Alex’s debut album written about growing up in Massachusetts. It’s his first time playing a show in his hometown since he was a teenager 10 years ago. Alex begins to relive the past as he recounts searching for answers to his teenage struggles with mental illness as he discovers punk music and seeks validation through romance and academic achievements. When his struggles mount, he attempts to take his life by crashing his car to follow in a local punk legend's footsteps. Alex's band supports Alex through the difficult journey of recounting his struggles during the concert. They help Alex grapple with the consequences of his past and search for self-forgiveness.

The opening song of the show that details Alex’s lifelong struggles with mental illness and his desire to cure them, asking the question “Will there always be something wrong with me?”

Alex is taken under the wing of his older cousin Lauren, who’s also a musician in the local rock scene. She tells Alex of her departed friend, Tommy, who died in a car accident 6 years ago. Tommy becomes Alex’s idol and he tries to replicate Tommy’s path.

In Development

Success Academy for the Magically Gifted (Book by Alyssa Haddad-Chin, Music and Lyrics by Alex Petti)

The show follows Samir (known as Sami), a high school junior from Dearborn, Michigan who has recently discovered he has access to magical abilities. Sami and his sibling were raised by his white single mom after their Arab father vanished under mysterious circumstances. Sami’s hometown has created their own twisted narrative of his family’s troubles, so Sami leaves to reconnect with his father at the last place his father was revered: the Success Academy for the Magically Gifted - a boarding school for gifted mixed-race teens that nurtures their magical abilities through their rigid program of excellence. Sami begins to find belonging at Success Academy, but when he returns home after his first semester, he discovers that as his magic becomes more powerful, his memories of his father start to disappear. Sami is forced to answer the question: what about his culture and his past is he willing to give up to find success?

Wash The Color Out (Book, Music, and Lyrics by Alex Petti)

Wash The Color Out is a retrospective musical about the generational effects of assimilation. Alex tells the true story of his grandfather, a Lebanese immigrant, growing up in Boston and struggling with the messiness of Americanization. Alex performs the songs he’s written as a singer-songwriter on guitar and reflects on how his grandfather’s choices affect him now.