Escape to Margaritaville at Buell Theatre

Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville! A story of love, incredible action and tear shedding drama. A honeyed romance featuring songs by — that’s right, you guessed it — Jimmy Buffett! Welcome to Margaritaville, where people come to get away from it all—and stay because they found something they never expected. Get ready for a hilarious and heartwarming musical with the most unforgettable songs from one of music’s greatest storytellers. So, don’t let the party start without you – buy your tickets now for a heartbreak and romance story that’s more than a musical, it’s a way of life!

Escape to Margaritaville Tickets

“It will knock your flip-flops off!” – Entertainment Weekly

“A little slice of paradise!” – USA Today

“delightful, energetic frothy drink of a show” – Newsday

Need to know more? The central character is Tully, played by Chris Clark, a bartender and singer at an island resort. Tully is a guy who lives on the beach, with a carefree worldview of let’s relax, kick back, enjoy ourselves, not take ourselves too seriously, grab a piña colada, fun-loving guy. He has relationships that last a week. But then somebody comes into his life that’s a little bit more of a challenge. That somebody is Rachel, played by Sarah Hinrichsen. She’s a beautiful woman with a type-A personality, an ecological scientist who has a real career drive, and is not interested in hanging out and getting drunk. Rachel has come on vacation at the Margaritaville with her best friend, Tammy, played by Shelly Lynn Walsh. It’s a holiday escape and Tammy is on the verge of a boring marriage. Her fiancé Chadd, played by Noah Bridgestock, has forced Tammy to go on a diet of carrot juice and sunflower seeds, so she can lose weight for the wedding. Rachel was created as the un-Jimmy Buffett character and when these two characters fall in love, it pushes them to rethink their attitudes about life. This is a show where you watch these two people help each other become better, become more than the people they were. Complications ensue, of course, since true love never runs smooth. And the plot twists are somewhat surprising. There’s Volcanoes, car breakdowns, some guitar lessons and an interesting experiment to use potatoes as an alternative energy resource! And the biggest question of all, will Tammy ever get another cheeseburger?

Jimmy Buffett recalls, “It’s interesting, when it came time to find writers for this ….it was very important, I thought, to find writers who lived the culture, I wanted them living it. That took longer than we thought. But it was well worth the efforts. It’s more than just listening to a song, it’s a lifestyle. We just said to them, ‘Here are the songs, you figure out a story line that runs through them.’ We had a lucky streak. The universe was with us with these two fellows.” The musical is written by, and now featuring a book by Emmy winner Greg Garcia (creator of My Name Is Earl, Raising Hope and Yes, Dear) and Emmy nominee Mike O’Malley (Yes, Dear and Glee), with Tony nominee Christopher Ashley (Memphis, Xanadu) directing.
This production features both original songs and your most-loved Buffett classics, including “Fins,” “Volcano,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “License to Chill” and many more. In addition to Buffett’s vibrant music, the show draws energy from the choreography of Kelly Devine, who worked with Ashley on the Tony-winning Broadway show Come From Away, and earned a Tony nomination herself. The dance vocabulary is surprising, athletic, sexy and rock ‘n’ roll. The cast bring real triple threats—people who really can act, really can sing, and really can dance. Scenic designer Walt Spangler, costume designer Paul Tazewell, lighting designer Howell Binkley and sound designer Brian Ronan. Frank Marshall, Mindy Rich, Anita Waxman and Beth Williams are producing. Escape to Margaritaville had a world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in California in the spring of 2017, where it broke house records before going on a pre-Broadway tour in New Orleans, Houston and Chicago.

Escape to Margaritaville Reviews

“delivers just about every bit of what the phrase ‘Jimmy Buffett musical’ promises, from the splashy colors to the steel-drum beats to the palm-fronded beach bar slinging fruity cocktails, the undercurrent of wistfulness and regret that runs through even some of Buffett’s more upbeat story-songs.”
– James Hebert, San Diego Union-Tribune.

“I suppose you could call “Escape to Margaritaville” a coherent aesthetic experience, in that laziness is not just its method but its message. “Work is a dirty word around here,” Tully tells Tammy. “If you say it again we’ll have to wash your mouth out with tequila.” Tammy eargerly responds, “Work work work work work work.” Tully, you see, is more than just a beach bum; he’s a philosopher in flip-flops. His profound challenge to Rachel is to decide whether she can let down her scientific hair long enough to crawl into a cabana for five days of casual sex with him. (She can.) His challenge to the audience isn’t much nobler: Why be an anxious hamster when you can go fishin’? Why scramble for The Man when you can sizzle and guzzle and fire up a fat spliff? twists involving a volcano eruption, a buried treasure and a tap-dancing chorus of zombie”
– Jesse Green, The New York Times.

“what a fine musical voyage it was — the joyous sounds of those Buffett songs that many folks came to know and love since the mid-1970s. The show is like a greatest-hits revue, with a nifty story thrown in.”
– Jack W. Hill, Special to The Democrat-Gazette.