Directed by Andy Fickman, it was initially shown at the Hudson Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.

[2] Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals now administers the stock/amateur rights, and the show has been produced by local theater groups in several cities, including Long Island, Toronto, Seattle, Philadelphia, Charleston, Sacramento, Raleigh, Norfolk, Minneapolis, and London.

[3] The Canadian premiere was produced by Hart House Theatre in September 2006 with both Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney in attendance.

It featured Alan Cumming, Christian Campbell, Thomas Dekker, Andrea McArdle, Lesli Margherita, James Snyder, Harry S. Murphy, John Kassir, Amy Spanger, Jenna Leigh Green and Lea Delaria.

On March 7, 2024, it was announced the show would receive a 25th anniversary Los Angeles revival, directed and choreographed by Spencer Liff, and produced by Christian Campbell, Alan Cumming, Kristen Bell, Andy Fickman, Dan Studney, Kevin Murphy, and America Olivo Campbell.

The production team also includes Maia Falconi-Sachs, Matthew Rosenthal, and Nick Padgett as co-producers, and original cast member Wendy Parker as executive producer.

[4] Due to multiple cases of COVID-19 in the cast, Bell filled in for Darcy Rose Byrnes as Mary for two performances on August 10 and 11, reprising the role for the first time in twenty years.

This small, boutique production starred Australian TV legend, Barry Crocker as The Lecturer, Brad Facey as Jimmy and Jess Burns as Mary Lane.

Also starring: Emily Cascarino, Andy Cook, Lucas Hall, Katie Headrick, Jay James-Moody, Sophia Katos, Richard Lovegrove, Belinda Morris and Celeste O'Hara.

As the play opens, the Lecturer, a stern, conservative authority figure, informs a group of parents (the audience) of the new drug menace, "marihuana", which threatens the American way of life.

(His warnings are reinforced by the Placard Girl, who throughout the play holds up large signs that clearly state scenes' moral lessons.)

From his podium, the Lecturer warns the audience that action must be taken immediately before the children of America succumb to the Demon Weed ("Reefer Madness").

He begins by introducing us to Jimmy Harper and Mary Lane, a lovable pair of wholesome teens who hold hands, sip hot cocoa, and think pure thoughts while studying Shakespeare for English class ("Romeo and Juliet").

Jack, trawling for youthful victims, arrives at the five and dime, where he meets Jimmy and lures him back to the Reefer Den under the pretense of offering him swing dancing lessons.

Jimmy is pressured into taking his first hit of marijuana ("Jimmy Takes a Hit") and tastes the forbidden fruits of sensual abandon in a wild hallucinatory dance sequence featuring weird sex, belly dancers, fire eaters, and Goat-Man, a frightening satyr played by the Lecturer ("The Orgy").

As the act begins, hallucinatory visions of Ralph, Sally and Mae appear as Jazz Trio Backup Girls ("Jimmy on the Lam").

The Lecturer brings us up to date – Jimmy's on the lam and Mary's "combing the rain-spattered streets in search of her wayward young man."

As soon as Mary is out of earshot, Mr. Poppy telephones the Reefer Den and tells Ralph to inform Jack that an unsuspecting new "client" is on her way over.

The plan backfires – the power of the weed is so great, it immediately transforms the virginal Mary into a whip-cracking sadomasochist who enslaves the frightened Ralph.

As the police pull up in front of the house, Mae tells Jimmy that he's innocent of the crime and that Jack is planning to frame him.

Ralph, Mae, and Sally are racked with guilt as they listen to Winchell announce Jimmy Harper's conviction and death sentence.

He sees hallucinatory visions: the ghost of doomed Jimmy, dead Mary in Hell being sodomized by the Devil, and the zombie remnants of all the kids destroyed by reefer.

The shock of all this causes Mae's mind to snap – she's surrounded by the angry visions of Ralph, Sally, Mary, Goat-Man, Jimmy, and the Zombies ("Murder!").

That Patriotic Trio joins the group in a rousing production number, chock-full of American iconography ("Tell 'Em the Truth").

During the song, Jimmy leads the townspeople back to the Reefer Den and builds a gigantic bonfire to immolate bales of marijuana and other "dangerous items".

They include: In 1998, writing partners Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, who had met while studying at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, were driving from Oakland to Los Angeles and listening to Frank Zappa's "Joe's Garage", when they began discussing how one might stage the piece.

The play opened in a small equity waiver theater in Los Angeles for what the producers thought might be a two-week run.

Instead, it played to packed houses for over a year and a half, captivating audiences and critics alike, winning 20 theater awards and breaking records.

Adjustments to the score included:[7] After the movie was released, Murphy and Studney proved unable to resist the temptation to fiddle with the show one more time.

[10] In 2005, Showtime released a movie musical adaptation of the show, following the same plot and songs, and starring Kristen Bell as Mary, Christian Campbell as Jimmy, Ana Gasteyer as Mae, Steven Weber as Jack, Amy Spanger as Sally, John Kassir as Ralph, with Alan Cumming as The Lecturer and Neve Campbell as Miss Poppy.