Joe Iconis Opens New Musical About Hunter S. Thompson — And Also Art — In Arlington

It started with an idea so crazy it just might work. 

Joe Iconis has woken up every day obsessed with the thought of Hunter S. Thompson — the infamous American journalist who is known as the father of “gonzo journalism” — for around 18 years. Since he started working on the musical about his life (but more so about how art changes the world, politics, and truth), he has started dating his now-wife, broken up, gotten back together, gotten married, and had a kid. 

He was inspired by the film adaptation of Thompson’s novel Fear and Loathing, which came out when he was in high school. When Thompson died in 2005, articles about his life flooded the media. The more Iconis dove into the story, the more he realized how complicated and “unwieldy” Thompson’s life was. Coupled with Thompson’s drug use, “bizarre speech patterns,” and the ugliness and violence in Thompson’s story, writing a musical about his life seemed like “a terrible idea.” 

So terrible, that Iconis knew he had to be the one to write it. 

“When I first started working on it, people would always assume that it was like a corporate job that I got hired for, because the idea of a Hunter S. Thompson musical seems so silly,” Iconis told Theatrely on Zoom. “Over 10 years ago, when I first told my friend Will Rowland I was writing it, he was like, ‘wow, what idiot producer paid you to do that?’ And I was like, ‘No, it's me. It's my fault. I'm the idiot producer.’”

The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical opened Tuesday night at the MAX Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. It’s a full circle moment for Iconis, who is best known, perhaps, for his musical Be More Chill.   

Key word: unauthorized. When Iconis first started working on the show, he baked in some quotes from Thompson’s writing under the assumption that he’d get the rights to Thompson’s work. Quickly, Thompson’s estate told him he’d never be able to afford the rights, but he could write the show “unauthorized.” That is, in no way, shape or form does the musical quote Thompson, nor can it dramatize anything that only exists in one of Thompson’s books. 

“I couldn't fall back on Hunter's words,” Iconis said. “I couldn't use his beautiful writing about America and about civil rights and about all of these huge issues. I couldn't use his actual words as a crutch. I had to actually figure out a way to say it in my own way, which I think makes it more universal and more both timely and timeless.”

In all the years of working on the musical, Iconis has only met a member of Thompson’s family once. While he and some cast members performed a concert version of the show in Aspen, Colorado, Thompson’s widow, Anita, invited them to visit Owl Farm — where the show is set, and Thompson lived. 

Iconis spent much of the last decade envisioning that house. When he sat down at the out-of-tune piano in the living room to play the show’s finale for Anita, it felt like he was stepping into his own mind, as he put it. 

“I keep saying if you'd see it in a movie, you wouldn't believe it. It was that kind of thing,” Iconis said. “It felt so special. It was just perfect, and to be able to share it with 15 of my closest friends and collaborators, many of whom are in the actual musical, and some of whom have been with the musical and with me for 10, 15, 20 years, I mean I get choked up even talking about it.” 

While it was initially “scary” to not be able to pull from Thompson’s own words, Iconis said it forced him to be intentional about his words and find what he was really trying to say in the piece.

“Hunter S. Thompson was the writer who put himself in the center of the story, who was famous for fabricating everything,” Iconis said. “Having to figure out what he made up and what was actually true has also been a part of this whole process.” 

That research has led Iconis to a somewhat meta conversation about truth. Yes, it’s a musical about Hunter S. Thompson (he’d hope so if his name is in the title). But now, Iconis sees it as a musical about America in the 60s and 70s, and how it relates to contemporary politics. Mostly, he sees it as a show about art and how it changes us. 

“It becomes less about what did Hunter S. Thompson do? And more about who did Hunter S. Thompson Inspire?” Iconis said. “And it's about letting art inspire you to do something. Whether that's create more art yourself, whether that’s going and bring down Mar-a-Lago, whether that's going to a protest, it’s about respecting the power of art, which is something that felt very personal to me for the last few years.” 

The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical is in performances at MAX Theatre in Arlington, Virginia through July 13. For tickets and more information, visit here.