Empire Records

Empire Records on Broadway Background

The original 1995 comedic teen movie was set in a fictionalized Tower Records in NYC and serves as a great backdrop for this 90’s coming of age popular underground flick.

The Broadway musical version attempts to capture some of this joie de vivre and bottle it up into a 90 minute musical that can somehow stay relevant in our modern age of music streaming and post MP3 sharing, despite the fact that record stores and the whole record industry no longer exist in the way they did way back in 1995.

It was a place where teens could hang out with others who share their same taste in music and discover new bands, while discovering who they really are. The technology may have changed, but the teen issues have remained. The original movie made stars out of Maxwell Caulfield, Debi Mazar, Rory Cochran, Robin Tunney, Renée Zellweger and Ethan Embry. The film featured the music of Better Than Ezra,Toad the Wet Sprocket, Gin Blossoms, Ape Hangers, Evan Dando and the Cranberries

What's Empire Records Like?

The young employees of a downtown record store are trying to save their beloved store from being bought by a mega-store and they prepare for a visit from a washed up singing star to bring attention to their plight.

Set over the course of a day, the show documents the teenage employees of Empire Records as they attempt to save their record store from being bought out by a large retail chain (which looks very much Virgin Records) and who plans to close the store for competitive reasons.

The cool misfit teens grapple with an array of young adult dramas and ultimately reach a clear conclusion, not only for their store, but their own lives that lay ahead of them. The show attempts to capture the original spirit of the sleeper hit movie, but in many spots it just ends up feeling more like Papa Johns instead of Mystic Pizza.

Is Empire Records Good for Kids?

This show is appropriate for children 13 and older.