Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollmann
Book and Lyrics by Greg Kotis
October 1-24, 2026

ZM (zombie musical)

Buy Season Tickets Here!

Raves for New Line's Urinetown (2007, 2022)

“An exhilarating, don’t-miss experience." – Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“The best show that New Line Theatre has ever produced.” – Judy Newmark, All the World’s a Stage

“The subversive Urinetown has never seemed timelier. Or funnier. Or scarier.” – Lynn Venhaus, Pop Life STL

“It barrels right at you, at a hundred miles an hour.” – Richard Green, Talkin Broadway

“A witty and scathing satire.” – Mark Bretz, Ladue News

“Smart, sassy, and relentlessly metatheatrical.” – Gerry Kowarsky, Two on the Aisle

“Urinetown is the meta-satirical musical we need right now.” – Kevin Brackett, Review STL

Raves for New Line's Yeast Nation (2018)

"Yeast Nation rocks the ocean floor!" – Tina Farmer, KDHX

"The funniest cautionary tale you’re likely to ever see." – Jeff Ritter, Critical Blast

"The production is absolutely spellbinding." – Kevin Brackett, ReviewSTL

"Come for the nonsense, stay for the soaring musical artistry." – Richard Green, TalkinBroadway

"Who knew microbiology could be so entertaining?" – Judith Newmark, St, Louis Post-Dispattch

First there was URINETOWN. Then came YEAST NATION. And now... brace yourself... ZM!

New Line Theatre opens its 35th season with the American premiere of this gloriously unhinged new meta-musical from certified chaos merchants Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis — the Tony-winning mad geniuses behind Urinetown, who looked at musical theatre and said, “What if… but weirder?”

Part Walking Dead, part Bat Boy, and part “you probably shouldn’t eat that,” ZM is a darkly comic fable set in an American small town where a fast-food chain is test-marketing a new chicken sandwich. Which turns customers into zombies. Two brave teenage employees must risk everything to infiltrate corporate headquarters, uncover the truth, and maybe -- just maybe -- ask, “Should we have read the ingredients list?”

Americans eat 17,000 Chicken McNuggets every second, we buy 5,000,000 buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken every month, and we spend $10,000,000,000 on Chick-fil-A sandwiches every year -- all of which lends ZM an uncomfortable and hilarious reality.

Originally commissioned by True Love Productions, Kotis and Hollmann began developing ZM in 2013 during a five-day writers’ retreat. Thirteen years, multiple workshops, and at least a few questionable snacks later, the show lumbered its way to its first fully staged production — in Spanish — in Mexico City in 2024. New Line's is the first full production in English, making New Line the only company brave (and unsupervised) enough to produce all three Kotis-Hollmann musicals: Urinetown (2007, 2022), Yeast Nation (2018), and now ZM.

The New Line cast includes John Lucas (as Barnabas Young), Adeline Hudelson (Mercy Rider), Kenya Devine (Lydia Light), Jeff Loeffler (William Hutt), Leah Connolly (Billie Hutt, Jr.), Robert Hanson (Hippy John), Kathleen Dwyer (Henrietta Cooke), Steph House (Anna Cole), Jacob Brewer (Junius Hampton), Bee Mecey (Julia Hempstead), Tawaine Noah (Solomon Dyer/ Abraham Hutt), Lamarkus Jones, (Enoch Brown/ Jacob Hutt), and Daniel Chioco (Uriah Higgins). The show will be directed by Scott Miller and Chris Moore, with music direction by Jason Eschhofen, choreography by Livy Potthoff, sound design by Ryan Day, scenic design by Dr. Rob Lippert, and lighting design by Eric Wennlund. ZM is presented by arrangement with the authors.

ZM will be New Line's third zombie musical, after Night of the Living Dead in 2013 and The Zombies of Penzance in 2018. (If you count Be More Chill and Reefer Madness as zombie musicals -- and honestly, at this point, why not -- this is their fifth. Someone should check on them.)

Ticket Info

ZM (zombie musical) runs October 1-24, 2026, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, all at 8:00 p.m., at the Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepard Drive, three blocks east of Grand, in the Grand Center Arts District. October 1 is a preview.

To purchase season tickets click here. Single Tickets will go on sale August 31. Tickets are $35 for adults, $30 for seniors, and $25 for students. For the Oct. 1 preview performance, tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors, and $20 for students. To charge single tickets by phone, call MetroTix at 314-534-1111 or visit the Fox Theatre box office or the MetroTix website.

PREVIEW NIGHT: Thursday, October 1, all tickets $5 off the regular price

OPENING NIGHT AFTER-PARTY: Friday, October 2, our audience is invited to stay after the performance to meet the cast and staff

BOHEMIAN NIGHT: Thursday, October 8, all tickets $20, for all the starving artsies out there

POST-SHOW TALK-BACK: Saturday, October 17, Q&A with the cast and staff, after the performance

COLLEGE FREE SEATS: Ten free seats set aside for every performance, open to any college student with a valid student ID.

HIGH SCHOOL DISCOUNT: Any high school student with a valid school ID can get a $10 ticket for any performance, with the code word, posted only on New Line's Facebook page.

EDUCATORS & MILITARY DISCOUNT: New Line offers all currently employed educators and active duty military personnel half price tickets on any Thursday night, with work ID or other proof of employment.

All discounts not valid in connection with other offers, available only at the door, and subject to availability. All programs subject to change.