The new musical from Billy Recce comes to Covington in June 2027
(Covington, KY, May 13, 2026) — Covington, KY’s THE CARNEGIE (Tyler Gabbard, Producing Director of Theatre) and Oklahoma City’s SOUTHERN PLAINS PRODUCTIONS (Jackson Gifford, Artistic Director) have announced a joint world premiere of the new musical Hit Show in Spring 2027, setting its sights on an Off Broadway production to follow. Hit Show features music, lyrics, and book by Billy Recce (Little Black Book, Fowl Play, FIVE: The Musical), with arrangements and orchestrations by Adam Dorfman (The Outsiders National Tour). Eamon Foley (Michael Arden, David Cromer) serves as director. The musical will launch in Oklahoma City, OK in May 2027 and move to Covington, KY in June 2027. Tickets will go on sale in June 2026. More information is available at HitShowMusical.com.
Hit Show drops you into a jazz-fueled fever dream where the spotlight burns and the truth keeps slipping out of reach. A swanky, noir-flavored musical inspired by the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. and set against the stirrings of the queer liberation movement, it unfolds like a smoky 60s floor show with a dangerous edge. The lights are low, the martinis are cold, and the night is closing in.
Sexy, volatile, and darkly funny, Hit Show is a high-gloss hallucination of fame at its most intoxicating and corrosive—a world of flashbulbs, backrooms, and buried secrets where image is currency and identity is a risk. Featuring a cast of four, Hit Show blurs performance and confession into an electrifying, late-night experience that lingers long after the music stops.
Billy Recce is an award-winning, Billboard-charting composer, lyricist, and playwright who believes in the transformative power of musical comedy. His work actively aims to queer the canon by centering fringe moments and characters from pop culture history. One of the most prolific young musical theatre writers of his generation, Billy began his career with Balloon Boy: The Musical, becoming the youngest writer ever selected for the New York Musical Theatre Festival at age 17. The show went on to receive productions across the country and is now available for licensing.
His Off-Broadway and NYC credits include Fowl Play (directed by Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Tye Blue), FIVE: The Parody Musical (“ABC Nightline” and New York Times feature), A Musical About Star Wars, Singfeld, VAPE, Petunia’s Big Day, RealityTown, and Hear/Now. His Heidi Fleiss musical, Little Black Book, received its concert premiere at the Bowery Ballroom starring Tony Award nominee Orfeh and directed by Tony nominee Kristin Hanggi. Licensed titles include The Big Twist: A Musical OzVenture and 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse: The Musical.
Billy’s work has been performed by Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Laura Benanti, Tituss Burgess, Alice Ripley, Beth Leavel, Bonnie Milligan, Leslie Kritzer, Kerry Butler, Rachel Dratch, Jackie Hoffman, Nathan Lee Graham, Jessica Vosk, and RuPaul’s Drag Race favorites Rosé, Jackie Cox, and Alexis Michelle. His songs have been heard internationally and at venues including Broadway in Bryant Park, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Signature Theatre, and 54 Below. He has developed musicals and projects with Goodspeed Musicals, Barrington Stage, and the Edinburgh Fringe.
Billy is a two-time MAC Award winner and has been recognized by the The Orchard Project, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, NAMT, The Bushwick Starr, and the Jonathan Larson Grant. He is currently under commission with the EST/Sloan Project, USDAN, Barrington Stage, Broadway Licensing/Concord, and several production companies.
Billy is based in New York City. billyrecce.com
Eamon Foley was cast in his first Broadway show at nine years old and went on to perform in four other Broadway productions before the age of sixteen. He then went to Princeton University to turn his focus towards direction and choreography, where he founded Grind Arts Company. Eamon began his professional career choreographing two-time Tony Award winning director Michael Arden’s production of Merrily We Roll Along and went on to choreograph numerous productions with Arden including Guys and Dolls in Tokyo and Annie at the Hollywood Bowl. Eamon also choreographed Tony Award winning director David Cromer’s Next to Normal at Writer’s Theater.
As director-choreographer, he helmed the re-imagined, contemporary ballet-infused Sunday in the Park with George at The Axelrod Performing Arts Center to critical acclaim. He also conceived, directed, and choreographed the aerial-dance, rock musical Hero. He has directed and choreographed Cyrano, Sweeney Todd, Nine, and The Last Five Years with Grind Arts Company, along with a slew of dance films and music videos for which he has also been the cinematographer. Most recently, Eamon directed and choreographed I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical at SoHo Playhouse, which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical Revue. Other choreography credits include His Story directed by Jeff Calhoun, Ragtime in Tokyo, The Wedding Banquet in Taiwan directed by Gordon Greenberg, Next to Normal at Barrington Stage Company, Waitress at Theater Raleigh, and Hello, Dolly! at Olney Theater Center.
Adam Dorfman is a music director, arranger/orchestrator, and multi-instrumentalist primarily based in New York City, and currently on the road as the associate music director for the first national tour of The Outsiders. He has worked closely with Nadia DiGiallonardo, Doug Besterman, Ian Weinberger, Nate Patten, Jeanine Tesori, Mark G. Meadows, Charlie Rosen, Will Van Dyke, Joey Contreras, and more.
The Carnegie Theatre, part of Northern Kentucky’s largest multidisciplinary arts organization, operates within a historic landmark dedicated to connecting people through meaningful arts experiences. As Greater Cincinnati’s only professional theatre devoted exclusively to musicals, it reimagines beloved titles through bold, contemporary staging—transforming audience familiarity into urgent, shared experience. In 2025, the Theatre welcomed more than 18,000 in-person audience members, signaling sustained growth and deepening regional demand driven by a younger, more diverse, and increasingly engaged audience. Looking ahead, the Theatre will expand its performance schedule in 2027 to meet this demand, reinvesting increased revenue into greater artistic scale, production capacity, and creative risk, while introducing new musical works alongside established titles. Through this evolution, The Carnegie Theatre is not only growing—it is redefining what a regional musical theatre can be: a dynamic cultural force and a vital gathering place for Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati. For more information visit thecarnegie.com.
Southern Plains Productions is a professional, nonprofit arts organization dedicated to enriching Oklahoma City’s cultural landscape through dynamic live performance. Operating within a presenting and producing model, the company brings innovative and acclaimed work to local audiences. Most recently, Southern Plains Productions presented the Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Wakka Wakka for a run of Dead as a Dodo. In addition, the company offers an annual free-to-the-public series, expanding access and ensuring a broad, diverse community can experience its programming. The company is currently in residence at the Oklahoma City Civic Center.
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