Iceboy! has been 40,000 years in the making—or at least a couple of decades in development. The creative trio Erin Quinn Purcell, Jay Reiss and Mark Hollmann, discuss building a musical that’s equal parts homage and mischief, where facts are flexible and the fun is very real.
GT: How did your collaboration take shape across music, lyrics and book?
Erin Quinn Purcell: This began as a scrappy little play called Hooray for Iceboy, which Jay and I co-wrote with the adobe theatre company in 2001, and performed in New York City. Audiences responded right away, and people kept encouraging us to keep going. In 2012, we brought Mark on board, and over time it evolved into what you see now—hopefully earning its own small place in theater history. Ha, move over, Eugene O’Neill!
Jay Reiss: It’s still evolving and never stops shifting—it’s working on multiple levels, which makes it a bit of a shape-shifter. But somehow, our three voices blend on a semi-coherent level. Maybe because we’ve had so many years to figure it out.
Mark Hollmann: When Jay and Erin invited me in, we talked through where songs might live in the piece, and I began composing. Initially, I was writing both music and lyrics, but as we developed it, we realized we needed Jay’s voice in the lyrics as well.
GT: The show has been described as “completely accurate and completely untrue.” How did you strike that balance?
EQP: We held two ideas at once: deep admiration for O’Neill and a total commitment to historical nonsense. We honored certain truths—and then, in a delightfully irresponsible way, said, “to hell with the rest.”
JR: The late 1930s were such a strange time—people would go to the theater at 8:30, be out by 11, and then head to a supper club…on a weeknight. When did they sleep? It’s fun to cherry-pick history to suit the story. We’ve also allowed some anachronisms—because the jokes were worth it.
MH: It’s a good question. Sometimes our characters are singing about things that really happened, and sometimes not. But in the world of the show, it all “happened.” So the characters live in that reality and the lyrics Jay and I wrote serve that reality.
GT: What has it been like developing a world premiere musical at The Goodman during its Centennial Season?
EQP: As someone from Illinois, working at The Goodman feels like a theatrical mecca. There’s also something exciting about creating this piece in a space with such a rich O’Neill history—audiences here are smart and savvy. We hope we live up to that…in a fun way.
JR: It’s an amazing theater and a fantastic facility. The costume department is full of gems—my personal goal is to get them a 3D printer. And knowing The Goodman has staged The Iceman Cometh before adds some extra flavor. Are the elevators a little slow? Maybe. But Susan V. Booth gives great notes, so it evens out.
MH: This is especially meaningful for me. I grew up in downstate Illinois and spent my early adulthood in Chicago working in storefront theaters, dreaming of one day working at The Goodman. I learned so much by seeing world premieres here—so it’s an honor to now have one of my own musicals premiere on this stage.
GT: The show explores the idea of people who are “frozen and need a spark to come back to life.” What conversations do you hope it sparks?
EQP: I hope people choose connection over isolation, debate primitive man versus modern man, and maybe even return their mother’s phone call.
JR: A lot of the show is about isolation—or “ice-olation”—versus human connection. We tell ourselves these limiting, often negative stories that keep us stuck. Maybe audiences will recognize that and try to break out of it.
MH: First and foremost, I hope people talk about how thoroughly entertained they were.
GT: If audiences leave believing one “completely untrue” thing, what would you want it to be?
EQP: That modern method acting wasn’t invented by Marlon Brando—it was invented by a thawed-out caveman who conquered Broadway.
JR: I’m not entirely confident our Neanderthal marriage rituals are historically accurate.
MH: I think audiences will enjoy figuring out what’s true and what’s not for themselves.
From Marc Bruni: “I’m honored to have been asked to join Mark, Erin and Jay in building something entirely original with Iceboy!. They are, individually, three of the funniest writers working in musicals today. Together, rehearsals with them involve long stretches of laughing followed by moments of startling emotional honesty that nobody saw coming. There’s a heart beating inside this ice! In a moment when the world keeps finding new ways to freeze us in place, the thing that thaws us is still the same: a room, a story and the stubborn belief that showing up for each other matters.”
—Marc Bruni, Iceboy! Director
