John Waters Cry-Baby: The Musical Opens this Friday at Cohoes Music Hall

Rockabilly musical adaptation of Water’s comedy cult classic comes to life in a razor-sharp, raucously funny satire that feels more relevant and resonant than ever 
Cohoes, N.Y. (April 6, 2026) – Playhouse Stage Company continues its 38th Season this week as Cry-Baby: The Musical opens on Friday, April 10 at 7:30pm at Cohoes Music Hall. Performances run through April 26, with 7:30pm evening performances Thursday through Saturday, as well as 2pm matinees on Saturdays and Sundays.

Complimentary tickets for Cry-Baby: The Musical are available throughout the run for members of the media and local theatre press who wish to cover or review the production. Local news stations and social media outlets are encouraged to film footage of the performance. To request tickets, please email Owen Smith, Producing Artistic Director, at owen@playhousestage.org. Production photos will be sent to the media on Friday morning, April 10.

Set in 1954 Baltimore, long-time home of its creator John Waters, Cry-Baby: The Musical tells the story of Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker, a tattooed, smoldering orphan who leads a gang of misfit outcasts — the Drapes — in a full-throated rebellion against the era’s squeaky-clean conformity. When good girl Allison Vernon-Williams falls for him, the battle lines between polished propriety and glorious delinquency are drawn. The musical features a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan — the team behind Hairspray — with music by Adam Schlesinger and lyrics by David Javerbaum. It premiered on Broadway in 2008, earning Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score. It has since received a well-received, raunchier and grittier West End revival.

The show is a comedy (a send-up of musicals like Grease or Bye Bye Birdie), unapologetically campy, gleefully trashy, and madly funny. But it is also, in subversive John Waters fashion, a sharply observed satire of the kind of fearful, conformist thinking that insists the world is safest when everyone looks and acts the same. The story is set against a backdrop of polio anxiety, Cold War nuclear paranoia, and the rigid social enforcement of “the right kind of people.” This has become unfortunately familiar sounding in 2026, making the play all the more resonant and biting.

“We chose this show before the world started feeling quite so much like 1954,” said PSC Producing Artistic Director Owen Smith, “but here we are. Cry-Baby is hilarious, but it also has real teeth and something valuable to say. John Waters has always understood that conformity and fear go hand in hand, and that the people most eager to tell you what’s dangerous are often the most dangerous people in the room. Whether it’s ‘polio shots’ or vaccine skepticism, duck-and-cover drills or genuine fears of nuclear war, this show holds up a funhouse mirror to America and asks: have we actually changed in seventy years? We think audiences are going to laugh a lot, and maybe recognize our modern discourse in the action on stage.”

Cry-Baby is directed by PSC Managing Director Chuck Kraus, with choreography and musical staging by AshleySimone Kirchner. Brandon Jones musically directs and leads the on-stage rockabilly band. The trio previously collaborated on PSC’s acclaimed 2024 production of Spring Awakening and last season’s hit Heathers: The Musical, both of which featured Playhouse Stage Academy advanced teen students performing alongside professional performers. This model continues with Cry-Baby featuring Playhouse Stage Academy advanced teen students appearing alongside area professional performers.

The production marks another chapter in PSC’s commitment to programming that is as artistically challenging to Playhouse Stage Academy students, as it is entertaining and resonant for audiences. “John Waters is a satirical genius,” Smith added, “and the writers of this musical understood that the way to honor him was to keep his edge intact. This is not a sanitized version of Cry-Baby. Audiences should come ready to laugh, but also to reflect on what Waters and this play have to say about our society today.”

The 38th Playhouse Stage Company Season continues this summer with produtions of Footloose: The Musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and 13: The Musical.

Tickets and 38th Season Memberships are on sale now. Adult tickets to Cry-Baby are $45.00, with $35.00 tickets available for Seniors (65 and older) and active/retired military, and $25 tickets for those under 18. Tickets may be purchased online at www.playhousestage.org, in person at 58 Remsen Street in Cohoes, or by phone at 518-434-0776.