EXES: The Musical is a one-woman punk opera and a heartbreak diary that transforms personal pain into universal revelation.

EXES: The Musical Delivers Raw Emotion with Multimedia Punch

In the intimate confines of The Chain Theatre, EXES The Musical concluded its brief but incendiary New York City run with a performance that left audiences both stunned and exhilarated. This one-woman punk rock opera, created and performed by Anne DiGiovanni (performing as deegie), transforms profoundly personal journal entries into a searing examination of modern romance. With unflinching candor and disarming humor, DiGiovanni guides us through a decade of romantic misadventures that ultimately become a powerful meditation on female identity.

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The musical landscape of EXES The Musical evokes the pop-punk aesthetic of early 2000s icons like Avril Lavigne and Paramore while infusing it with contemporary sensibilities reminiscent of Olivia Rodrigo. Nevertheless, this nostalgic framing serves a deeper purpose than mere stylistic homage. Through the twelve songs that chronicle her relationships from 2000 to 2013, DiGiovanni effectively deconstructs the cultural myths about love and romance that shaped an entire generation’s expectations.

Cultural Icons on Display: The Visual Tapestry of Romantic Mythology

A standout element of the production is the large projection screen that serves as a backdrop and commentator throughout the performance. This multimedia component brilliantly contextualizes DiGiovanni’s journey through the pop culture that informed her romantic expectations. As she moves chronologically through her relationships, the screen flashes with corresponding clips from Disney fairy tales, romantic comedies, and television shows like “Sex and the City” that defined female romantic aspirations during those years.

The juxtaposition is often devastating in its clarity. When DiGiovanni performs “The One (Dan),” the screen fills with idealized images of romance from early 2000s media, highlighting the gap between cultural fantasy and her lived reality. Later, during “Gray Area (Jeff),” the contrast between Hollywood’s sanitized depictions of sexuality and DiGiovanni’s complex, sometimes traumatic experiences creates a potent commentary on how media shapes our understanding of consent and desire.

Particularly effective is the use of “Sex and the City” clips featuring the show’s female characters and the enigmatic Mr. Big (Chris Noth)—a perfect visual shorthand for the pursuit of emotionally unavailable men that DiGiovanni chronicles in songs like “Stop the Ride (Steve).” These cultural touchstones function as nostalgic references and a timeline mapping DiGiovanni’s evolving relationship with romance.

From Corporate Escape to Musical Catharsis

DiGiovanni’s path to EXES The Musical represents a fascinating artistic evolution. In 2022, she famously quit her corporate job by email directing colleagues to “1-800-U-CAN-SUCKIT. ” She fully embraced her musical identity as deegie. Following success with her duo Only Bricks, this theatrical venture marks a bold new direction, transforming personal journals into art that feels deeply individual and universally resonant.

Director Olivia Facini demonstrates remarkable restraint in her staging, wisely keeping the focus on DiGiovanni’s magnetic presence. The sparse set allows the emotional narrative and projection screen to take center stage. At the same time, thoughtful lighting design by Christina See subtly enhances the mood shifts between sections titled “The Magic,” “The Medicine,” and “The Misery.”

Stripped-Down Power Trio Packs Emotional Punch

The musical foundation of EXES The Musical comes from a surprisingly minimalist arrangement. DiGiovanni herself alternates between powerhouse vocals and occasional turns on a digital keyboard, supported by just two musicians: Musical director Joseph Lewczak on guitar and Jeannette Lawler on drums. This power trio configuration proves more than adequate to deliver the emotional intensity required, with the stripped-down sound enhancing rather than limiting the impact of DiGiovanni’s autobiographical songs.

Lewczak’s guitar work deftly navigates between crunchy power chords and more delicate textures as needed. At the same time, Lawler’s drumming brings a raw energy that perfectly complements the confessional nature of the material. The power trio format also creates moments of compelling vulnerability when DiGiovanni takes to her keyboard for more introspective numbers, creating an intimate musical space that mirrors the personal nature of her revelations.

The Exorcism of Past Loves Through Musical Storytelling

The songs in EXES The Musical follow a chronological journey through DiGiovanni’s romantic history, each named after an actual ex-boyfriend. Instead, what could easily devolve into mere score-settling becomes a nuanced exploration of youthful illusions and their gradual dissolution. Beginning with the hopeful “Expectations” and ending with the resolute “Never Look Back,” the musical traces an emotional arc specific to DiGiovanni’s experiences and painfully familiar to anyone who has navigated the treacherous waters of modern dating.

Particularly affecting is “Gray Area (Jeff),” a haunting meditation on sexual assault and the ambiguity of trauma. In this delicate segment, DiGiovanni confronts the complex emotions surrounding violation in a frank and poetic manner. The projection screen’s commentary here becomes especially poignant, contrasting Hollywood’s romanticized depictions of sexuality with the complicated reality of DiGiovanni’s experience. Subsequently, “Stop the Ride (Steve)” delivers the show’s emotional apex, with DiGiovanni pleading for release from the cycle of emotional dependence and disappointment.

Y2K Culture and Modern Feminist Lens Illuminate Personal History

DiGiovanni’s sharp cultural analysis elevates EXES The Musical beyond mere autobiographical indulgence. Throughout the performance, she connects her experiences to the broader cultural messaging that shaped her generation’s understanding of love and sexuality. The projection screen makes this connection explicit, showing how Disney princesses, rom-com heroines, and characters like Carrie Bradshaw created templates for romantic behavior that often led to disappointment and self-doubt.

From the sugar-coated fairy tales of childhood to the seemingly sophisticated but equally problematic narratives of adult romantic media, DiGiovanni examines how these influences created unrealistic expectations and normalized troubling relationship dynamics. The visual timeline created by these projections effectively charts DiGiovanni’s personal growth and the evolving (yet persistently problematic) depictions of romance in popular culture across the 2000s and early 2010s.

The musical benefits greatly from dramaturgical contributions by script consultants Bailey Castle and Natalia Reagan, who help shape DiGiovanni’s raw material into a cohesive theatrical experience. Additionally, the multimedia elements created by Avoid Void transform the projection screen into a sophisticated visual essay that enhances the Y2K aesthetic with clever references to the era’s digital and pop culture.

A Feminist Reckoning That Transcends Personal History

EXES The Musical’s evolution from personal catharsis to cultural commentary makes it compelling. By examining her experiences—amplified by the visual context provided by the projection screen—DiGiovanni illuminates broader patterns of gender expectations, power dynamics, and emotional labor that shape heterosexual relationships. By the conclusion, the individual men named in her songs have become almost archetypal figures representing different manifestations of patriarchal conditioning.

DiGiovanni’s willingness to implicate herself in these dynamics—acknowledging her pursuit of validation and acceptance of problematic behavior—adds crucial nuance to the narrative. Rather than positioning herself as merely a victim, she charts her growth toward greater self-awareness and agency. Consequently, the final songs of the show feel genuinely triumphant rather than bitter, suggesting hard-won wisdom rather than mere resignation.

As DiGiovanni prepares to release her forthcoming EP “Feminism 101,” EXES The Musical stands as both a compelling theatrical experience in its own right and a fascinating glimpse of an artist in evolution. Her blend of musical talent, personal honesty, and cultural insight suggests exciting possibilities for future work that continue to blur the boundaries between concert, theater, and multimedia memoir.

This brief but potent run at The Chain Theatre should, one hopes, represent not an end but a beginning for EXES The Musical. DiGiovanni’s fearless excavation of personal history deserves wider exposure, particularly for younger audiences navigating their romantic landscapes shaped by digital culture and shifting gender norms. In transforming her romantic wreckage into art, DiGiovanni offers entertainment and liberation—not just for herself but anyone who has ever wondered if they were alone in their romantic confusion and pain.

EXES The Musical

As part of the New York FRINGE!

STARRING deegie

Directed by Olivia Facini
Musical Director Joseph Lewczak
Additional Music and Lyrics by Ethan Buckner, Ruth Berry Buergenthal, Heather Kryczka, Jamie Miller, and Matt Richert

Creative

Director – Olivia Facini
Musical Director – Joseph Lewczak
Lighting Designer – Christina See
Script Consultant – Bailey Castle
Script Consultant – Natalia Reagan
Video & Effects Artist – Avoid Void

Band

Keys – deegie (Anne DiGiovanni)
Guitar – Joseph Lewczak
Drums – Jeannette Lawler

Crew

Sound – Conner Deck
Stage Manager – Andrew Fleming
Stagehand – Brayden Worden

Running time is about 70 minutes without intermission. Some adult content. For information and tickets, click HERE.

The Chain Theatre

12 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018

For information and tickets about the Chain Theatre, click HERE.

Readers may also enjoy In the Shadow of Memory: “Remembrance” at Theater for the New City, and Above Ground – Not Exactly a Comedy at La Mama.