Emojiland

Off-Broadway

After its success as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the show premiered Off-Broadway on January 19, 2020, at The Duke on 42nd Street.^[6]

It starred Lesli Margherita as Princess, Josh Lamon as Prince, George Abud as Nerd Face, Laura Schein as Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes aka Smize, Lucas Steele as Skull, and Ann Harada as Pile of Poo.

The production was directed by Thomas Caruso and choreographed by Kenny Ingram, with musical direction by Lena Gabrielle. It featured scenic design by David Goldstein, costume and make-up design by Vanessa Leuck, lighting design by Jamie Roderick, sound design by Ken Goodwin, hair and wig design by Bobbie Zlotnik, and projection design by Lisa Renkel and Possible Productions.

The musical was a Critic's Pick from The New York Times^[7] and played a total of 11 Previews and 59 Performances before the COVID-19 shutdown.

In May 2022, the show announced a non-union national tour beginning in June 2022, but was subsequently cancelled after its first stop in Columbus, Ohio.^[8][9] Though it ended early, the tour production was captured live in Columbus with plans for it to be released, though no more news has been heard as of August 2024.^[10]

West End Concert

In October 2022 a one-off concert version of the show was held at the Garrick Theatre in heart of London’s West End. It featured a star-studded British cast including Olly Dobson as Skull, Louise Dearman as Princess, Hannah Lowther as Kissyface and Natalie Paris as Construction Worker.^[11]

3Below Theaters Production

In October 2024, a new condensed version of the show will run from October 17th - November 24th, 2024 at the 3Below Theater in San Jose. The condensed version cut the two ensemble roles of People Dancing, introduced one new role ("Angry Face") and doubled characters to trim the cast from fourteen to eight people.^[12]

Tapestry Players

In January 2026, the community theatre Tapestry Players ran a production from January 22nd to February 1st at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas, directed by David Gow^[13]. Most of the original script was intact, apart from "Princess is a Bitch" being changed to "Princess is the Worst". They added a scene involving Father Christmas at the top of Act 2 before "Firewall Ball."^[14]

Act 1

Inside a smartphone, emojis of all shapes and sizes go about their daily lives, exclaiming "It's Just So Great to Be Alive". Of them, we are introduced to Information Desk Person, informing everyone of the upcoming update for version 5.0; Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes and Smiling Face with Sunglasses (respectively called Smize and Sunny), who have been a couple since version 1.0; the not-so-benevolent ruler Princess, her loyal Guardsman, and greedy Man in Business Suit Levitating; Construction Worker and Police Officer, partners in work and love; and a death-obsessed Skull, who reflects on his contrary feelings toward being alive.

Smize, alone for a moment, reveals that despite her happy expression, she is secretly "Sad on the Inside". She hides this from everyone by self-medicating through smelling a pink hibiscus emoji. Meanwhile, Princess acknowledges that she enjoys being a self-described "bitch", and forces her subjects to dance for her amusement ("Princess Is a Bitch").

All of the emojis gather together at "The Progress Bar" as it counts up to 100 percent, celebrating the arrival of update 5.0 and the new emojis that will come with it. Included in the new faces are Nerd Face and Prince.

Nerd Face is instantly enamoured with his surroundings and nature of his existence. His first interaction is with Smize, and to her surprise, he immediately recognises her deceptively happy guise. Ever the optimist, he tells her about how their whole world is made up of binary code, and how their and their surroundings' existence is miraculous, to which she eventually agrees ("Zeroes & Ones"). After this, Sunny comes along and, jealous, bullies Nerd Face and forces Smize to leave with him. At this moment, Skull comes across a lonely Nerd Face, and, knowing his kindness and knowledge of the phone's code, asks if he can help him delete himself, to which Nerd Face, wanting to be a good friend, reluctantly agrees ("Cross My Bones").

At the castle, Princess is horrified to discover the new Prince emoji making himself at home, claiming he has the same royalty status as her ("New Crown in Town"). The two bicker for awhile before being interrupted by Man in Business Suit Levitating, who warns them that their situation could get worse if another crown-wearing emoji—like a King or Queen—gets installed in a later update, suggesting that they combat this by building a firewall, stopping all future updates and keeping out any new emojis. The royals agree to commission the firewall and throw a ball to appease their subjects.

At their home, Construction Worker and Police Officer enjoy breakfast and each other's company ("Work Together"). However, their cozy morning is interrupted by Man in Business Suit Levitating commanding Construction Worker begin building the firewall. Construction Worker opposes the order, believing that blocking out the updates isn't in the interest of a majority of emojis, including herself ("Stand For"). Princess, outraged by the refusal, demands Police Officer enforces the construction, and despite her personal feelings, Police Officer does so.

Nerd Face creates a virus for Skull, intending it to only be used for his self-deletion, but when Skull gets his hands on it, he threatens to release it to all of Emojiland, believing that every emoji would be better off deleted ("Thank Me Now"). During this, Police Officer enforces Construction Worker's building of the firewall, and the act ends with the firewall built and the virus released.

Act 2

Act 2 begins with emojis singing and dancing at the "Firewall Ball", which has mostly succeeded in distracting everyone from the reality of future updates being blocked. At the ball, Smize catches Sunny cheating on her with Kissy Face, and she runs to a bathroom. As she cries, the Pile of Poo emoji finds Smize and offers her some words of wisdom and perspective ("Pile of Poo").

Working in the desert, Construction Worker calls Police Officer to say that she's freezing, exhibiting the first symptoms of Skull's released "Virus". Information Desk Person reports additional cases, and warns listeners that infected emojis may be deleted, panicking emojis everywhere. Princess, unaware of Skull's wrongdoings, asks Man in Business Suit Levitating how the virus got in with the firewall up, to which he insists it was spread by new emojis from the most recent update. Princess immediately calls for the arrest of Prince emoji, and Information Desk Person warns old emojis to stay away from new emojis and those infected, before crashing herself. Smize goes to Sunny's place to take her things back, but finds an infected Sunny who confesses he's been cheating on her with Kissy Face since version 3.0.

Construction Worker and Police Officer reunite and share a tearful goodbye, where Construction Worker gives Police Officer a firewall encryption key before crashing and disappearing in her arms. Police Officer, devastated, sings that she doesn't want anything more than "A Thousand More Words" with her partner.

Smize and Nerd Face reunite, and a defeated and hopeless Nerd Face admits to creating the virus and regrets not creating an antidote. Smize, infected and starting to crash, encourages him to be the hero and save the day ("Anyway"). Inspired by her words, Nerd Face collects the encryption key from Police Officer and breaks through the firewall to try and find the factory reset button, undoing the virus's damage. As he reaches to press it, Skull appears to stop him, saying that even with a reset, every emoji still has its flaws, history is doomed to repeat itself, and nothing matters. Nerd Face insists that love is what matters, and if they avoid deletion now, they can "Start Again". Eventually, Skull gives in, but as he does, the two begin to crash and freeze. Together, they use their combined strength to push the reset button.

After the factory reset, all of the emojis go about their lives as they did at the beginning of the show, having no memory of the events that just occurred. This time, however, Sunny and Kissy Face wind up together from the start, Princess and Prince coexist as rulers, Construction Worker and Police Officer are alive and well, and Smize and Nerd Face share a moment ("It's Just So Great to Be Alive (Reprise)").

Original Off-Broadway production