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Stereophonic
An epic play with music that examines the human costs of the quest for artistic greatness.
The Sausalito. The the mid-1970s. The brown shag. Stereophonic brings us inside the cloistered world of a recording studio as a rock band on the brink of superstardom attempts to create their sophomore album. The ensuing pressures open up cracks in the band’s once-easy camaraderie, and spats over issues like tempo and song length begin to reveal deeper problems in the band’s foundation. Running on a diet of booze, sleep deprivation, and a giant bag of cocaine, interpersonal relationships are pushed to the breaking point as a process that was meant to last a few weeks becomes a neverending slog. With original songs by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, David Adjmi’s play is an electrifying portrait of a band wracked with division and disillusionment that nevertheless might be on the verge of creating a masterpiece.
The Sausalito. The the mid-1970s. The brown shag. Stereophonic brings us inside the cloistered world of a recording studio as a rock band on the brink of superstardom attempts to create their sophomore album. The ensuing pressures open up cracks in the band’s once-easy camaraderie, and spats over issues like tempo and song length begin to reveal deeper problems in the band’s foundation. Running on a diet of booze, sleep deprivation, and a giant bag of cocaine, interpersonal relationships are pushed to the breaking point as a process that was meant to last a few weeks becomes a neverending slog. With original songs by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, David Adjmi’s play is an electrifying portrait of a band wracked with division and disillusionment that nevertheless might be on the verge of creating a masterpiece.
369 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 17, 2025
24 people are currently reading
233 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 9, 2025
Maybe I just don’t get it but I really didn’t like this play. I found the women to be completely one dimensional, the plot to have no clear direction, and there to be no overarching message or theme. This was such a let down as I was so excited to read it. The lyrics have no depth- they honestly seem to be written by Chat GPT with the prompt of “a Fleetwood Mac/Daisy Jones and the Six Song”. Also the thing that pissed me off THE MOST is in the stage directions he kept referring to Diana’s craft as her “crochet needles”. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CROCHET NEEDLES. Crochet hook? Knitting needles???????? Tapestry needle??? This is such a small thing but the fact you can’t take two seconds to google what is crochet and what is knitting tells me SO MUCH ABOUT YOU. I was so sure this was going to be good that I brought it to ITALY. ITALY!!!!! I brought this thing overseas and it was so entirely disappointing. This reeks of man who loves to hear himself think.
October 1, 2025
I’m going on strike from reading things written by men until they figure out how to write women
July 13, 2025
this play is not about the Anglo-American rock band formed in 1967 Fleetwood Mac I remind myself, as I come across yet another moment in this play that bears a direct resemblance to the Anglo-American rock band formed in 1967 Fleetwood Mac.
July 26, 2025
quick read to get my daisy jones fix. would def want to see live one day
December 21, 2025
now this was just perfect!! i’ve been wanting to read this play since i had just missed it run on broadway last year and WOW. these stories are so compelling and I just love the idea of the play being told from the studio/control room the entire time. this made my Fleetwood Mac heart so happy & i can’t wait to see the tour when it comes to Boston next year!!
May 24, 2025
This four-act play about life in the recording studio is so compelling and inviting. The reader will relate to the characters and situations.
October 1, 2025
Few plays (or pieces of art) capture process this well, and edge you musically along the way!
December 30, 2025
4.5 stars
The play 5 stars when performed with the live instruments and vocals.
The play 5 stars when performed with the live instruments and vocals.
October 10, 2024
happy to have seen the play twice and experience it on paper a third time, lots of the acting and intonations were visibly and audibly playing in my head, accompanied my read with the soundtrack when applicable :) reading this to chill is my happy place tbh (yes i got a copy before official release hehe)
May 22, 2025
WOW! Just...WOW! I can see what all the hype was about. The tension, angst, creativity, and life of this play leap off the page with a powerful impact. I can ony imagine what that impact felt like watching this piece live. Just stunning!
October 2, 2025
So good both on stage and on page! Was lovely to pick up on the bits I missed when seeing it this summer <3 Also so fun to read stage directions that feature crochet 🧶
June 3, 2025
“It’s a torture to need people.”
My, what a beautiful script. I knew from the first time I watched on Broadway that this would be an essential text / piece of art for me. I love the characters, I love the ideas, and yes, I love the music.
“I’m reading Carlos Castaneda right now
you ever read him?”
“No”
“He writes that the great sin
The biggest sin of all
Is to believe that life itself is not good.
Whether in failure or success
we must never take our eyes from the fact
that it is an amazing world
and we must rise to its challenges
And we must love life.”
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the play four times on Broadway (thank goodness for those partial view seats in the orchestra — I thought the view was tremendous, and hey, significantly better-priced than the $279+ center orchestra seats).
“I’m not going to keep doing triage to make the would heal.
Maybe it won’t heal.
Some wounds stay open.
That’s alright.”
Reading this play, it did remind me how wonderful the ensemble was. Because they elevated the text and really injected such personality into it. I like the way Adjmi wrote the play: the two columns when characters were in the control room or recording space; the frequent lack of punctuation to indicate that thoughts are connected, and said almost out-of-breath, like a run-on sentence; and the frequent and seamless overlapping dialogue between the emotionally-volatile bandmates.
“The houseboats are like sculptures
and that’s what I want.
A kinetic sculpture to live in
on the water.
I want to live in art.”
This play is just so funny, so wonderful, so insightful into the burden of creating art. The burden of needing others. Truly how desire is the root of all suffering. How this need for greatness or glory stems from a significant absence of love when we needed it most in our lives.
“You think you can get her to fix the coffee machine?”
“I feel like she’s not super good at her job. Sometimes when we’re talking the phone just rings and rings and I’m like fine don’t answer it.”
I can yap on and on. But this is an easy page-turner. And there are monologues I love immensely here; Reg’s monologue on love or houseboats; Grover’s top of Act III meltdown.
But Holly gets so many of my favorite musings and moments. The Don’t Look Now beat? Ugh. Funnily enough, I was able to read most of this script while doing lights for The Cherry Orchard at school. At times, I really did feel like Grover (in a much less severe state). Sitting by the board, hitting buttons, watching the performers perform. The rhythm of the play was so easy to follow, despite another play happening right in front of me (no slight to the actors -- The Cherry Orchard is so long, and I've seen them do it at this point several times! However, I always looked up when Michael playing Gabe was onstage).
“Maybe that’s why the sex scene is so beautiful.
Because you know it’s coming from grief.
Because the grief is
tearing the couple apart
but then it’s bringing them together
at the same time.
In this very strange way.”
My, what a beautiful script. I knew from the first time I watched on Broadway that this would be an essential text / piece of art for me. I love the characters, I love the ideas, and yes, I love the music.
“I’m reading Carlos Castaneda right now
you ever read him?”
“No”
“He writes that the great sin
The biggest sin of all
Is to believe that life itself is not good.
Whether in failure or success
we must never take our eyes from the fact
that it is an amazing world
and we must rise to its challenges
And we must love life.”
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the play four times on Broadway (thank goodness for those partial view seats in the orchestra — I thought the view was tremendous, and hey, significantly better-priced than the $279+ center orchestra seats).
“I’m not going to keep doing triage to make the would heal.
Maybe it won’t heal.
Some wounds stay open.
That’s alright.”
Reading this play, it did remind me how wonderful the ensemble was. Because they elevated the text and really injected such personality into it. I like the way Adjmi wrote the play: the two columns when characters were in the control room or recording space; the frequent lack of punctuation to indicate that thoughts are connected, and said almost out-of-breath, like a run-on sentence; and the frequent and seamless overlapping dialogue between the emotionally-volatile bandmates.
“The houseboats are like sculptures
and that’s what I want.
A kinetic sculpture to live in
on the water.
I want to live in art.”
This play is just so funny, so wonderful, so insightful into the burden of creating art. The burden of needing others. Truly how desire is the root of all suffering. How this need for greatness or glory stems from a significant absence of love when we needed it most in our lives.
“You think you can get her to fix the coffee machine?”
“I feel like she’s not super good at her job. Sometimes when we’re talking the phone just rings and rings and I’m like fine don’t answer it.”
I can yap on and on. But this is an easy page-turner. And there are monologues I love immensely here; Reg’s monologue on love or houseboats; Grover’s top of Act III meltdown.
But Holly gets so many of my favorite musings and moments. The Don’t Look Now beat? Ugh. Funnily enough, I was able to read most of this script while doing lights for The Cherry Orchard at school. At times, I really did feel like Grover (in a much less severe state). Sitting by the board, hitting buttons, watching the performers perform. The rhythm of the play was so easy to follow, despite another play happening right in front of me (no slight to the actors -- The Cherry Orchard is so long, and I've seen them do it at this point several times! However, I always looked up when Michael playing Gabe was onstage).
“Maybe that’s why the sex scene is so beautiful.
Because you know it’s coming from grief.
Because the grief is
tearing the couple apart
but then it’s bringing them together
at the same time.
In this very strange way.”
June 1, 2025
I waited almost a year for this play to come out and it was literally magical reading. Seeing this play was the best day of my life and I got to relive the actual play portion, which moves so fast in person so this helps you catch every line. Such an incredible play and genius storytelling in what it chooses to not show. Literally owning a copy of it is exciting :)
June 28, 2025
Kinda slow at the beginning, but it gets better as it progresses. There's a lot of potential for drama in the long days and nights of recording an album, especially with a band full of talented, opinionated artists. Reminded me a lot of stories I've read about the relationship dynamics in Fleetwood Mac.
October 30, 2025
A SLOOWWWW burn if there ever was one, but with crazy payoff. But the libretto can't compare to seeing it live; the original songs are what tie the staged version together. (THAT is a 5-star show; the book alone misses much of that energy.)
If you ever wanted a mix of Ibsen-style realism with the glam and nose candy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours sessions, here you go.
If you ever wanted a mix of Ibsen-style realism with the glam and nose candy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours sessions, here you go.
December 3, 2025
i have been wanting to see/read this play for so long because fleetwood mac is my favorite band and i LOVED the score of the play. i was thoroughly enamored with the play itself and the development of the different relationships between the characters. it was a little hard to keep track of, reading vs seeing, but nothing about the play itself that impeded my love of the show.
July 27, 2025
a four act play about the creative process of a seventies rock band? yeah this was basically tailor made for me specifically
and when ‘the original broadway cast of stereophonic’ is my top artist in my spotify wrapped this year… look the other way
and when ‘the original broadway cast of stereophonic’ is my top artist in my spotify wrapped this year… look the other way
October 13, 2025
more fictional 70s band content whoops. loved this tho, characters leapt off the page, writing and stage directions alone made their relationships feel very real and down to earth what i wouldn’t give to have seen this on broadway💔💔
November 15, 2025
Enjoyed watching it more than reading it but glad I did. Diana is the most infuriating female character to ever be written but that didn’t frustrate me nearly as much as the totally unnecessary use of the f slur & sp**zing as a stage direction!!!! In 2025 wtf!!
December 28, 2025
Highly recommend having the soundtrack available to you so you can listen to the songs as they pop up in the text.
Loved it when I saw it on stage, and loved it while reading it on my couch with some headphones.
Loved it when I saw it on stage, and loved it while reading it on my couch with some headphones.
November 16, 2024
i will be in this audience in the next month
December 11, 2024
Read the play and then saw the show in New York. A captivating story about what it means to pursue a creative endeavor. It is laugh out loud, funny, and appeals to your emotions.
June 15, 2025
:) my favorite play ever ever ever
July 11, 2025
I really enjoyed reading this play, especially after seeing it in NYC last October. I remember being so impressed with the silences in the production; I loved focusing on the show’s words.
July 30, 2025
Oh the things I would do to see this live. Beautiful.
November 11, 2025
The entire plot was just taken from Fleetwood Mac
Read
August 14, 2025saw onstage at the john golden theatre on 10/18/2024. finished reading the script 08/12/2025
so spectacular. about the biggest and the smallest things at the same time. joins sunday in the park as theatre that viciously interrogates the life of an artist and the artistic process. ❤️
so spectacular. about the biggest and the smallest things at the same time. joins sunday in the park as theatre that viciously interrogates the life of an artist and the artistic process. ❤️
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews