New Jennifer Nettles musical, GIULIA, will premiere in NY this fall

Downtown multi-disciplinary venue Perelman Performing Arts Center will host a world premiere for a new Jennifer Nettles musical, GIULIA: The Poison Queen of Palermo. Nettles will also star in the work, to be directed by Rebecca Taichman (Indecent) and run November 25–December 21.

Inspired by a true story, the work tracks a prolific serial killer whose trail of murder begins with an act of self-defense. Mandy Moore (Taylor Swift's Eras Tour) will choreograph.

The show is part of the venue's newly announced upcoming musical theatre, circus, dance, and concert season, which will also see the continuation of the Downtown Sessions cabaret series. That will pick up March 22 with a concert from Tony winner Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton, Girls5Eva). Expect a song list featuring tunes from Broadway, pop, and soul.

Also newly announced is Passengers, a circus show from Montreal physical theatre troupe The 7 Fingers that will play June 12-29. The new offerings join previously announced titles SCAT!... The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar by Urban Bush Women and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, running February 5-8; African Exodus by The Centre for the Less Good Idea, running February 27-March 2; March Forth by Reginald Dwayne Betts, performing March 4; Motion/Matter: All Styles Dance Battle, performing March 8; and Malaise dans la civilisation by Alix Dufresne and Étienne Lepage, running March 13-22.

Pre-sale tickets are available to Passengers and Goldsberry's concert evening for PAC NYC members and Citi cardmembers at PACNYC.org. General sales begin February 4. Pre-sale and general sale dates for Giulia are to be announced.

Updated On: 1/28/25 at 03:16 PM

Super pumped for this. Nettles is an incredible talent and will never miss her on stage.

I saw Nettles in Waitress when shows reopened after the pandemic. She was wonderful!

Updated On: 5/3/26 at 09:24 PM

Has anybody been to the PAC for a closed caption show? I've seen opera before with the supertitles in English, I'm not sure if the PAC is similar.

I was looking at tickets and see that all the shows starting July 8 are listed as closed caption. I'm not sure how annoying it would be, and if I should try to go before that date or if they're not too obvious.

iluvtheatertrash said: "Closed caption means you can access it on a private device. Open caption means everyone can see it."

Thanks!

Anyone been to an early preview?

For what it’s worth, I know one person who saw it and said it’s wonderful.

I'm eager to hear more reviews and word of mouth. I'm excited to see this later in July and very hopeful. The music sounds exciting and the rehearsal footage looks awesome. I will say, the lyrics I've heard so far leave a lot to be desired for me... very broad strokes lyrics about rising, dreaming, fighting, darkness and light that feel like they could be inserted into any story. But I'll reserve any further judgment until after seeing the whole thing. I suppose her branding it a "pop-eretta" leaves some room for it to be a little broad-strokes pop-y. I'm hoping some of the songs that haven't been released are a little more specific. I love Jennifer Nettle's voice. She's such a compelling interpreter of song.

Updated On: 7/2/26 at 01:40 PM

I saw it this past weekend and had a great time. Nettles is a bonafide musician and has created a properly tuneful pop-opera score with genuine soul, trajectory, and drive. It's definitely a post-Lin Manuel musicalization, and while it stands on its own, there are times where we seem to have arrived inside a Feminist Renaissance Hamilton, particularly in the rhyming couplet and joke structures that run through the recitative sections. It's a range-y sing for a lot of the characters, but it’s so nice to hear songs that actually sound like they were written by someone who knows how the human voice works. The range is earned, and everyone sounds incredible.

The cast is uniformly excellent, and consists of probably the most soulful collection of voices you can hear on a stage in New York this summer. Shoutout to Quentin Earl Darrington, who is in fine form (and reminded me how much I wish we had a full cast recording of that 2009 Ragtime revival). And a special shoutout to Chris Ramirez and Didi Romero, who are absolute dynamite in their mischievous, comedic roles - they ran away with the show for me.

The lyrics are definitely the weakest link. As someone previously mentioned, they are mostly written in broad emotional strokes, rather than being specific to these particular characters or evocative enough to let the audience do some of the comprehension work on their own. Lots of tell rather than show. They aren’t awful or distracting so much as predictable at times (and at other times genuinely clever and humorous), and the strength of the music carries the emotional journey in a way that effectively does the heavy lifting anyway. The plot is compelling and makes sense, the characters’ motivations all read, but I wish there was a bit more of a book, if only because it seems we jump from Point A to Point F at times without the satisfying ‘how did we get here’ in-between.

Mary Zimmerman’s direction is a breath of fresh air in the musical theatre world right now—nothing groundbreaking, but it actually feels like there was an artist at the helm of this one, interested in looking at the elements available and finding ways to creatively use them to extend the visual storytelling. What a concept! Some genuinely stunning stage pictures that float in and out throughout the show. The costumes look gorgeous and the set design is beautiful and practical and well-used. Love the swaths of deep red throughout.

This show is in great shape, and I can see it being quite the crowd pleaser - despite the dark subject matter, it has a fairytale quality to it that makes the story easy to digest while still hitting you in the heart. Hoping it gets an extension or another life after the PAC, and I’m especially hoping for an album!

Updated On: 7/7/26 at 12:18 PM

I just looooove me some Jennifer Nettles and wishing her every success with this show. You can tell just how deeply she cares about the work she makes and that's been since Sugarland.

Flashback to 2021, I actually found her Jenna in Waitress to be the most moving of those I'd seen (Jessie, Sara, Betsy). She brought genuine southern warmth to Jenna that I had not seen in any of the others. Being from the south, that hit such deeper chords for me.

Thrilled she's found a love in theater and hope she keeps going

Enjoyed this overall. The show is definitely too Hamilton-sounding, but it’s like Operation Mincemeat in that it sounds too similar to Hamilton, but it’s also very good music. I just think that’s how shows sound today in general. They either sound like Hamilton or a have a generic indie pop sound. Wish they came up with their own sound or reflected the sound of the time period they were coming from. For example, I saw A Walk on the Moon, which should have a 60s sound to its music. Same with what should have sounded like the 80s for the Lost Boys. That’s not at all to say that I don’t enjoy the music from those shows. Just wish there was a little more originality.

The cast here is fantastic. Every single one is a powerhouse. The women and the men. But they’re not just vocalists; the acting was there too. Also loved the choreography.

I think part of the battle it’ll face is that it comes off to some as men hating. I didn’t feel that way, but my friend did. There’s one moment where the priest says, “Not all men are bad,” and Giulia responds with something like “I don’t mess with them.” I feel like there could’ve been a deeper moment there. I wish the show and Ms. Nettles well wherever they go from here. She’s done an impressive job on her first show.

Extended through August 2.

I think Orchestra is great for this one. Had two different friends sit in the mezzanine/balcony levels and say they had some trouble seeing everything, but the orchestra seems to be on progressive tiers all the way to the back. I was a few rows from the back in the orchestra and had a straight shot of the whole stage. Emphasis on house right if you want a full view of the stairway as well.