Join us at 54 Below for a raucous and irreverent evening featuring the songs of The World Still Needs You, Boris Yeltsin! In an unforgettable celebration of this bold and satirical new musical, experience show-stopping numbers like “Wanna Feel Real,” “9-12-ish,” “Demons Out,” and “Make Your Move” like never before! Featuring Grammy Award-winning actor Zachary James plus an all-star cast, this concert is produced by Evan Mack, Josh McGuire, and Christopher Mirto, with direction by Jen Wineman (Dog Man the Musical, FIVE, That Parenting Musical).

The World Still Needs You, Boris Yeltsin! is a new comic musical based on actual events (although highly fictionalized). In 1989, after the dissolution of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin was sent to the US on a fact-finding mission, representing the new Russian republic. He toured the US and was rather bored by everything, including his visit to the NASA Space Center in Houston. After NASA, he was taken to see a large grocery store in Houston, and was overwhelmed by the incredible variety and quantity of products available to regular Americans in a capitalist society. As a result, he went back to Russia, was elected president, and established capitalism in his country. This explanation skips a few steps but is basically what happened. Really. 

Music by Evan Mack
Lyrics by Joshua McGuire
Book by Evan Mack, Joshua McGuire, and Christopher Mirto
Directed by David Gately

YELTSIN – Alec House-Baillargeon
STORE CLERK – Jonathan Motes
STORE MANAGER – Olivia Brice
RENT-A-COP – Thomas Valenti
VLADIMIR – Jovanni Ferrer

ENSEMBLE
Claire Burreson
Isabella Napoli
Madeline Lee
Maisy Parker
Alex Georgopoulos
Noah Gunn
Zack de Besche
Patrick O’Farrell

Workshop Zankel Music Center July ‘22: Manager: Rachel Spencer Hewitt, Clerk: Henry Walter Greenberg, Rent-a-Cop: Brendan Tuohy, Yeltsin: Zachary James, Vladimir: Johnny Salvesen
Cowboy Astrophysicist: Charlie Roppolo, Pregnant Woman:Jenna Rose Cipolla, Old Woman: Julia Fertel, Frank/Nemesis: Thomas Valenti, Corporate Suits: Adam Partridge