The award-winning Island City Stage launches its 15th anniversary season with a campy homage to everyone’s favorite drama queen, Joan Crawford, in the theater company’s revival of the hit world premiere of Michael Leeds’ Who Killed Joan Crawford? The show runs October 1st through October 25th, with tickets on sale now.
“When we did the original world premiere (which I was in), it was just really a hoot,” said Andy Rogow, artistic director of Island City Stage. “I remember the first time we saw each other in our dresses, and we just burst out laughing. This is a great time to revive the show because we all need a good, silly, laugh-out-loud show right now!”
The show is both written and directed by Michael Leeds, who began his career performing on Broadway under the direction of such luminaries as Gower Champion, Ron Field, and Martin Scorsese before moving into directing, choreographing, and writing. As a writer/director, Leeds is perhaps best known for writing and directing Swinging On A Star on Broadway, which received a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical.
“The idea for Who Killed Joan Crawford? started with just the title. I loved the fast-paced wit of writers like James Kirkwood, Christopher Durang, and Paul Rudnick, and I was a big fan of Agatha Christie; I had read all of her books when I was a kid. And finally, I was in “the biz” and had gay friends “of a certain age” like myself, who, at times, I wanted to kill,” said Leeds. “The ending actually changed three times in rehearsal for the original production 10 years ago. I think the one we settled on is really a surprise and not anything the audience will expect!”
Island City Stage’s 2026 revival production of Who Killed Joan Crawford? stars Michael Coppola (Harvey Goldberg), Luke Di Liddo (David Hoch), Christopher Dreeson (Stewart Fry), Jay Eisler (Trick Roberts), Bruce Linser (Gene Harlowe) and Stephen Trovillion (Leo Lawrence).
Individual show tickets start at $50. A Mimosa Sunday performance sponsored by Neil Blackwell will take place on October 11. A Women’s Night at the Theater with a pre-show reception will take place on October 23. The show runs for 90 minutes with no intermission.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit islandcitystage.org, call (954) 928-9800, or email [email protected]. Follow Island City Stage on Facebook at facebook.com/IslandCityStage and on Instagram at @islandcitystage.
