Joe Iconis Gonzos Himself Into The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical | Playbill | By Talaura Harms
When musical theatre writer Joe Iconis was in high school, he was just a somewhat reserved nice guy. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was shy, but I certainly was not doing anything that was described in Hunter S. Thompson’s writing,” says the Tony-nominated composer-lyricist, “which I think made it really appealing to me.”
Iconis’ first introduction to Thompson was the film adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, the buddy road trip (emphasis on “trip”) comedy has become a cult classic. In it, a journalist and his attorney travel to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, but a trunkful of mescaline turns the assignment into a psychedelic ride. First serialized in Rolling Stone, then published as a book in 1972, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was really a critique of the downfall of 1960s counterculture.
Thompson is considered the founder of gonzo journalism, which firmly plants the author as part of the story, often written in first person and lacking objectivity. And Iconis has written a musical about him. Commissioned in 2008 by La Jolla Playhouse and almost 15 years in the making, The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical, featuring music and lyrics by Iconis and a book by Iconis with Gregory S. Moss, is wrapping up its world premiere run this weekend.
Although always attracted to the wild accounts that were so opposite his own life, it wasn’t until Thompson’s death in 2005 that Iconis really clicked into a real curiosity for Thompson. “There started being all of these pieces with folks who knew him giving first-hand accounts of experiences they had with him, anecdotal stuff about his life. So many of the stories felt like they were in contrast to what I thought I knew about him and his public persona,” says Iconis. He'd envisioned Thompson as just a wild person, “moving about the world like a human hurricane, doing drugs and causing destruction.”
But Thompson’s friends were painting a more complete portrait. “Here was this guy who cared so deeply about the art of writing, and really believed that writing had the power to change the world,” Iconis began to discover. “Underneath all his depravity, he really was a moralist, and he had this strong sense of people who feel like there’s no place for them—outcasts, misfits. He felt that writing could make a place for those people.”