The Apple Boys

The Apple Boys is a small-cast musical comedy that takes place in Coney Island during the Gilded Age. Jonothon Lyons wrote the book, Ben Bonnema wrote the music and lyrics, and Johnnie Hawkins and LaChanze produce. It is scheduled to open at The Duke on 42nd Street in 2027 as the show's Off-Broadway premiere.

The musical has a history before this run. It had its world premiere at HERE in 2018, and Bucks County Playhouse staged it in 2025. A cast of four shares more than 40 roles, so each performer takes on many parts over the evening.

The hero is Jack, the grandson of Johnny Appleseed. Jack and his friends from working families find out that a landlord wants the family's apple orchard. They need to find the money in time to keep it, and a rent freeze is not among their options. Their plan is to enter a big singing contest.

Coney Island is the backdrop, a place full of sideshow acts and colorful characters. The tone is that of a fast-paced comedy rather than a drama. This page leaves the outcome out.

Bonnema wrote an original score for the show. Matt Gallagher is credited with vocal arrangements and Rona Siddiqui with music supervision, which fits a story built around a singing contest.

In 2018 the production carried the subtitle A Barbershop Quartet Musical, and the friends in that version found barbershop harmony as the story went on. A song list for the 2027 production had not been published as of October 2026, so this page names no numbers.

The first version opened at HERE, 145 Sixth Avenue, on December 9, 2018, after previews that began on November 30, 2018. It was a limited engagement through December 23, 2018, billed as The Apple Boys: A Barbershop Quartet Musical. Lyons, who wrote the book, was one of its four performers, alongside Amanda Ryan Paige, Jelani Remy and Teddy Yudain.

That version named its hero Jack Chapman III. His recruits included Nathan Handwerker, who founded Nathan's Hot Dogs, a self-described strongman named Warren Lincoln Travis, and Lina Beecher, known as Hank, who designed the first looping roller coaster. Which of these characters appear in the new production has not been announced.

Bucks County Playhouse presented the musical in May 2025. The Duke run begins previews on February 16, 2027, with the official opening on February 25, 2027.