Who’s feeling nostalgic for the early 2000s? Who loves social media? Who enjoys a silly musical? Answer all of these queries affirmatively, and The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse could well be a new Off Broadway show for you. Or maybe not.
In 2006, a tabloid famously printed a paparazzi snap of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton inside a car. The image was headlined “3 Bimbos of the Apocalypse.” Such is the jumping-off point for this modest little musical involving several Gen Z vloggers in 2025 – connected only by the internet and an obsession – who try to identify a mysterious fourth chick in the back seat.
Why? For kicks and clicks on their YouTube channels. A detail in the photo that reveals a bracelet on an otherwise random wrist points the sleuths to somebody named Coco. They discover a homemade video of Coco banging out “Something Out of Nothing,” a sex bomb-type anthem to fatuity. The self-aware video and Coco look fabulous to their eyes today but an avalanche of negative comments in 2006 reportedly caused the artist’s obscure demise.
How did Coco perish? Was she murdered with a stiletto heel wielded by a mad stylist? Wait – did Coco die at all? So why is her mom stonewalling so fiercely? Linked by their mismatched blue plaid togs and hand-held mics, the intrepid Gen Z trio dive into the mystery amid a raging ocean of Y2K trivia, gags and references that shall go nameless here. More than a dozen songs that range from satirical to sincere in their intentions percolate throughout this intermission-free 90-minute musical that bowed on Tuesday at the Pershing Square Signature Center.
Presented by The New Group as part of its 30th season “by special arrangement” with other producers, the musical’s book, music and lyrics are by Michael Breslin with a secondary credit to Patrick Foley for book, additional music and lyrics. Two others are credited for “dramaturgy.” Breslin also crafted the vocal arrangements with Dan Schlosberg, who wrote the orchestrations and serves as musical director for the four-performer band. Jack Ferver is the choreographer with Olivia Palacios additionally credited. The overall production is “directed by and developed with” Rory Pelsue. The result of all this collaboration is a slick, patchy, pop musical that resonates sporadically at the Signature Center’s 191-seat Alice Griffin Jewel Box theatre, where the sound levels are loud but not unpleasantly so.
The musical is better tuned in terms of its score than in the book’s conflicting attitudes. Certain lines and lyrics humorously refer to people, events and fads of those not-so-long-ago Y2K times. Other aspects of the show mock present-day YouTube culture and obsessive content makers who exist in basements. These satirical elements mix not so easily with an earnest theme regarding youngsters damaged by online abuse as represented by Brainworm (Milly Shapiro), the lead Gen Z-er. One melancholy baby, she combines online forces with Earworm (Luke Islam) and Bookworm (Patrick Nathan Falk) on their hunt for Coco, which proves amusing if not much of a mystery. Too bad Brainworm is a dour Debbie Downer, the later storyline gets melodramatic and the point of it all is, um, inconclusive?
Fortunately the score features attractive music, most notably that hard-driving “Something Out of Nothing” tongue-in-chic diva number and “While No One’s Looking,” a poignant ballad about facing up to feelings. Strong bass lines propel much of the music, which is handsomely arranged, although the sugared mixing noticeably sounds engineered. Nonetheless, the songs are gorgeously sung by top-notch vocalists, especially so by Keri René Fuller as the missing bimbo, Sara Gettelfinger as her demonic mama and Natalie Walker as several figures in Coco’s shadowy life (most spectacularly delivering a wicked “I Literally Die” comic aria). Everybody benefits from designer Cole McCarty’s witty clothes for nowadays and back then, including a requisite grape-purple velour track suit.
Staged nimbly by Pelsue underneath arched Looney Tunes portals airily designed for speedy scenic needs by Stephanie Osin Cohen, the production easily rolls over most potholes in the plot. The lighting designed by Amith Chandrashaker lends color and dramatic shadows to events; a nightmarish “Stop Scrolling” sequence is illuminated cleverly by iPhones. While The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse is one curiously mixed-up musical, the production is sufficiently entertaining to amuse viewers willing to overlook its somewhat bipolar behavior.
The Last Bimbo of the Apocolypse opened May 13, 2025, at Signature Center and runs through June 1. Tickets and information: thenewgroup.org
