Who's Your Baghdaddy? Or How I Started the Iraq War

Music Theatre of Madison revisits the run-up to the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq with a production of Who's Your Baghdaddy, Or How I Started the Iraq War. The musical, by Marshall Pailet and AD Penedo, premiered off Broadway in 2015, and uses dark humor to process the horror of what transpired. Shows at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and one matinee at 2 p.m., Aug. 20.

media release: We wrap up our season theme of "breaking the rules" with this subversive, hilarious, gut-punch of a musical by Marshall Pailet and AD Penedo. A show that rocked off-Broadway in 2015, Baghdaddy is a subversive musical in the style of Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice). It tells the story of the buildup to the War in Iraq, focusing on an Iraqi refugee (and con artist) codenamed Curveball, the people he interacted with, and what became the biggest CIA blunder in modern history. Filled with bangin' songs, rich history, dark humor, and layered characters, this piece explores how we take responsibility, how we treat people we suspect, and how ambition run amok can spell disaster.

August 18, 19, 25, and 26 at 7:30 p.m., August 20 at 2:00 p.m. 

Memorial Union Play Circle, 2nd Floor of the Memorial Union