Empire Records The Musical – McCarter Theatre Center

Somehow I missed the cult classic film Empire Records in the 1990s — despite being a teenager when the film came out. It is the story of an independent record store in danger of getting turned into a corporate chain while it’s mostly teenage employees navigate life, relationships, and figuring out who they are. Things all teenagers deal with. 

As a teenager, I had my fair share of facing these kinds of challenges. And, I spent a seemingly inordinate amount of time hanging out in the local independent record store where I lived: Siren Records. That said, there is a lot I can relate to in the story, which takes place over the course of one day in 1995. 

After nearly 30 years, Carol Heikkinen, the screenwriter of the original film has teamed up with composer and lyricist, Zoe Sarnak to create a musical adaption for the stage. 

Empire Records The Musical had its world premiere at McCarter Theatre Center this September and runs through October 6.

I really enjoyed the show, and it definitely transported me back to the 90s through the music and the existence of records stores. Well, there are still a few out there. In fact, we filmed some footage for the projects below at the Princeton Record Exchange (aka PREX) to capture that tactile record store experience that has become increasingly rare in the digital era. 

You can check out the behind-the-scenes videos below that feature interviews with composer and lyricist, Zoe Sarnak, writer Carol Heikkinen, and director Trip Cullman. We also took a trip over the scene shop and costume shops to see what they were working on there. 

In addition to working on these project for McCarter, I also worked with my old pal Tom Miller to produce a segment for State of the Arts, a TV show that runs on NJ PBS and WNET. You can watch that segment here.  

Many thanks to Joe Ronca for filming the dress rehearsal with me.