Escape to Margaritaville is a 2017 American jukebox musical by Greg Garcia and Mike O'Malley, based on the songs of Jimmy Buffett.
Following try-out performances in La Jolla, New Orleans, Houston, and Chicago, the show premiered on Broadway in February 2018 at the Marriott Marquis Theatre.
The musical premiered on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre on February 16, 2018, prior to a March 15, 2018 opening, directed by Christopher Ashley and choreographed by Kelly Devine.
[4] Tully Mars works as a singer for the bar at Margaritaville, a run down hotel on a small island in the Caribbean, along with Brick, the bartender, Jamal, the busboy, Marley, the owner, and J.D., a one eyed beach bum who spends his days at the bar.
He regularly has affairs with female guests with no intention of continuing the fling beyond their time at the hotel ("License to Chill").
Her fiancé, Chadd, forces Tammy to go on a diet of carrot juice and sunflower seeds, so she can lose weight for the wedding, which infuriates Rachel.
tells guests stories about his life and his buried treasure, which Marley dismisses as lies.
Later that night, Tully reveals to Rachel that he grew up in Maine, where his father wanted him to continue the family line of fisherman.
Back at the hotel, everyone is recovering from the previous night of drinking and partying ("My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink, and I Don't Love Jesus").
On her last night on the island, he suggests they do something to distract her and the two decide to get tattoos, with Brick needing to be drunk due to his fear of needles.
Jamal wonders where he will go after evacuating the island as the patrons panic, Marley tries to keep everyone calm, Tully and Brick pack the boat with whatever they can, and J.D.
In the jungle, Tully tells Brick to think of things that make him happy in order to control his fear ("Grapefruit–Juicy Fruit").
digs up a chest as Marley arrives, revealing she had to let the boat leave due to the guests panicking.
She prepares to go eat a cheeseburger, but Chadd has set up a vegetarian buffet for her, due to her diet.
Over the course of three years, Brick and Tammy get married and have a daughter; after being denied by numerous banks, Rachel finally gets funding for her research; J.D.
and Marley become a couple, rebuild Margaritaville, and have a daughter; and Tully becomes an international music star ("Love and Luck").
A year later, Brick and Tammy receive an invitation to Tully and Rachel's wedding and first class tickets.
and Marley reflect on how much their lives have changed in the past few years as the wedding is being prepared and the guests arrive ("A Pirate Looks at Forty").
"[9] NJ.com praised the main actors as they "do their best" with the story, but also called the musical "an unfortunate mishmash of Buffett staples" and "a handful of tepid new compositions."
It also noted that a romance plot with two chorus members "inexplicably upstaged" the leads, proving distracting.
It said it "blends the greatest hits of Jimmy Buffett, a set of cheery cardboard characters, and a simple—if occasionally demented—plot into a concoction syrupy enough to taste sort of like a Broadway show.
Calling the writing clever for its incorporation of Buffett songs, it said it was enjoyable for audience members who "don’t expect too much.
Attributing a "distinct sitcom-style sensibility" to the "rudimentary" book (dialogue and script) by Greg Garcia and Mike O'Malley, the review said the show "exudes an affable likability that's hard to entirely resist."