Futurity (musical)

Futurity is a 2012 indie rock concept album and stage musical by the American experimental rock group the Lisps, featuring music and lyrics by César Alvarez and a book by Alvarez with co-librettist Molly Rice. Developed from songs Alvarez wrote in 2008, the work blends American Civil War fiction with speculative science to imagine a Union soldier and the mathematician Ada Lovelace building a steam-powered “brain” that might end warfare.

Early workshop concerts were presented at Bard College in 2008 and in New York City the following year. After further festival and residency development, the fully staged world premiere opened in March 2012 at the American Repertory Theater's Oberon space in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then toured to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The Lisps self-released a 17-track studio recording that same year, serving as both a standalone album and the show's original cast soundtrack. The piece fuses folk, bluegrass and indie rock instrumentation with ensemble vocals to create its steampunk alternate history. The story is presented through letters and songs as Private Julian Munro and Lovelace pursue a cog-and-gear calculating machine while confronting the human cost of war and the limits of technology.

Critical response to the 2012 productions was mixed, with reviewers consistently praising the inventive score while noting uneven storytelling. A revised production, co-presented by Soho Rep and Ars Nova, opened Off-Broadway at the Connelly Theater in October 2015 to warmer notices; The New York Times named it a Critic's Pick. The run extended into November and the musical won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical for the 2015–16 season.