Joey Contreras Discusses Future of IN PIECES, Explains

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The songwriter of the viral musical exclusively tells BroadwayWorld what’s next after the show’s recent sold-out London run.

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Joey Contreras ’ In Pieces , a contemporary new musical about navigating relationships, identity and life in the Big Apple, has been in the works for years.

What began as a song cycle of Contreras’ standalone pieces has become a 90-minute book musical, most recently playing a sold-out staged concert at The Other Palace in London directed by Martha Geelan with musical direction by Brian Russell Carey . Throughout the years, theater fans have had a front-row seat to In Pieces ’ development, following along on social media as Contreras wrote new songs specifically for his story of six young adults finding love and enduring heartbreak along the way.

While the COVID-19 pandemic “derailed some more traditional development” of the piece, Contreras tells BroadwayWorld, “I pivoted and decided to make an album and license it.” It was then, he says, that he started to discover more about its story.

“It was less about love and dreams and a little bit more about these relationships: Who are you when you show up to them? And who are you because of them?” Contreras explains. “Because I think time really colors the way you look at your life.”

Following its celebrated London run (which is now available to rent and stream online, featuring a cast that includes Antonio Cipriano , Ailsa Davidson , Ryan Kopel , Alex James-Hatton , Emilie Louise Israel , Romona Lewis-Malley, Jacob Atkins and Sarah Freer ) and ahead of In Pieces ’ performance at next weekend’s West End Live, Contreras exclusively spoke to BroadwayWorld about what’s ahead.

I’ve seen some of these songs performed at concerts all over New York City long before they were part of a musical. In Pieces has evolved so much since then. What have been some of the songs that you’ve had to cut? What’s been the hardest?

Joey Contreras : Honestly, I would never write a show this way again because the show was originally written to be a jukebox [musical with] all my old songs . Then, as it started to get developed, and I got to see it — because we licensed it, and I was seeing all these different productions, and I was learning more about the show — that’s when we started doing In Pieces 2.0.

Then it was like, “What does the story need?” And that means some songs have to go because they just weren’t fitting the moment because some of those songs were never meant to fit a bigger moment, so that’s when all the new songs started being written. And I love the show, honestly, more for the new songs than I do for any of the old songs.

Since this live capture came out and people are now seeing where the show is really living and breathing — with context — there have been some comments that have been like, “Oh my gosh, I love the show, and I’m really sad that this song isn’t in there. Where is ‘Love Me, Love Me Not’? Where is ‘This Is Not Me’?” But, at some point, something has to go.

For a long time, “Love Me, Let Me Not” was the song that I was known for, so I always felt like it needed to be a part of this piece, but as I started to develop the story and these characters, it was becoming harder and harder to figure out when that song would be used, especially in a 90-minute show. I don’t want it to be a two act, so there’s just a real estate balance. And “Love Me, Love Me Not” was not fitting any characters in this moment, so it got plucked pretty quickly. Then I was like, “Maybe I’ll do a nod to it.” Because Grey Carter becomes a pop star, I was like, “Maybe we’ll see a moment where he’s playing the chords of ‘Love Me, Love Me Not’ or sings [it].” It’ll be an Easter egg for the fans. Maybe that’s the song that Charlie says he hears on the radio. I love that in the lore of the world, but it was just becoming an unnecessary Easter egg that wasn’t moving anything forward.

The biggest exciting cut was “Young Kind of Love” and the creation of “Bloom,” which has really become the big star of the show. I don’t miss “Young Kind of Love” because I love “Bloom” so much more. During those 10 days of rehearsal [for the recent London run] is when we turned “Get Up and Go” into a duet. That was literally birthed in the room.

Tell me about the London production and where In Pieces is headed next.

JC: There’s a lot of really exciting things cooking, and the Other Palace run was super successful. It sold out so quickly, and I got to meet so many people. And then the live capture of it has been even more successful. The live capture has been rented in 105 countries, so it’s become really a global show that I think is exciting and puts us in a really cool space. I’m having conversations with a lot of different international markets and a lot of different spaces that I want the show to live and breathe. It’s also been such an untraditional and scrappy journey. We’ve been really trying to build this [in a] fan-forward [way] and keep everybody engaged and involved, and I think it’s really paid off.

Is the goal to have a production in New York?

JC: Obviously, I want to bring it back home, and that is definitely a goal, and I will feel really thrilled and satisfied and happy with that. I think there’s a couple other places that we’re going to land before we land in the city. We are continuing to eye London and having a London run, and that’s also because we have a lot of data that has shown that London is a big demographic in the fan base of the show.

How much work do you want to do in terms of making more changes from the recent London version?

JC: I left the experience feeling like I had a hit list of things I wanted to work on. And obviously there are conversations that I need to continue having with the team, but it’s also been kind of validating to see the response from so many people and hear the feedback. Things that I didn’t know were clear enough are reading clear enough. And then there are still places that I want to expand, investigate and just ‘zhuzh’ a little bit.

This most recent workshop and presentation was not even with costume and scenic design. There are designers out there who are going to have even smarter, cooler ideas than I even can imagine.

Since the creation of In Pieces has been a very unique process, how much of the fans’ input do you take into consideration?

JC: I love thinking about serving and giving to the fans. That being said, there is such a thing as too many opinions, too many cooks in the kitchen. At some point, you have to always make sure that you, the writer, have a strong idea and a strong grasp on the story that you’re trying to tell and make sure that all of your changes and your adjustments are in service of those three foundational things that you think the show’s about or that you know that the show’s about.

When did you decide to start stringing all of your songs together to form In Pieces ?

JC: I started writing standalone musical theater songs because I wanted to have autonomy in creating, and I knew how to get myself in the studio and make music, and I love being in the studio and making recordings and making albums. So that’s where everything kind of began. And then I was playing those songs at concerts. They didn’t necessarily have a ‘book musical’ home. Over those years, I started hearing from some people that were like, “What if you put them together in some kind of theatrical box, like a song cycle, like a Songs for New World , like an Edges ?” And so that’s where In Pieces was birthed. That moment is when I wrote “You Never Know” and “Fork in the Road,” and those were sort of the guiding light that housed this light thematic world that I was exploring.

While you’re working on your current version of In Pieces , do you still have a version that’s being licensed?

JC: Not anymore. We eventually put that [licensable version] on pause for a moment because, as the show has become very different from that licensed version, we want it to not be confusing to people.

Since the fans have been so involved in the process, what is something they may not know about the show’s development?

JC: Making a musical, and getting a musical to its full fantasy, can move quite slow and can be quite glacial. Even a year into posting material, people are like, “Great, I can’t wait to see it on Broadway.” And I’m like, “Me too!” You start to feel — as the writer, as the creator — even more impatient or more anxious the more you hear people say, “Why isn’t this on Broadway?”

Are there any other projects that you’re working on simultaneously?

JC: I’m working on like 10 different shows right now. [Laughs.] Obviously, a lot of my excitement is around In Pieces because this is my baby, and I just love the journey that it’s on. I am constantly thinking of new shows to write. I always think I have enough on my plate, and then I’m like, “But I really do want to write this story.” So I’m always full of ideas.

What do you think when you look back at that YouTube video of Natalie Weiss singing “Love Me, Love Me Not” — or all of the other performances you’ve done over the last decade — and see how far you’ve come?

JC: Oh my gosh, I’m still that person that is just trying to make it happen and will do anything to make stuff. I don’t believe in waiting for anybody to give you permission, and In Pieces is, once again, a testament to creating without anything holding you back.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Production Photos Credit: Danny Kaan Joey Contreras Photo Credit: Ambe J. Williams

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Exclusive-Joey-Contreras-Reveals-Whats-Next-for-IN-PIECES-and-Why-Love-Me-Love-Me-Not-Was-Cut-20260613)._