Brewed Ambition

BK Wells & Michael Turnblom

Get ready for grande laughs in Brewed Ambition – a hilarious musical that’s a zany spin on Macbeth, served up in a corporate coffee shop! Deuce is a bumbling busboy at the crappiest Moonshot coffee shop in town. He’s stuck slinging espressos with his BFF, Cat, and together, they’ve got a steaming pot of hate for the Lead Barista, Chad.

Deuce idolizes his manager, Boyd, who happens to run the second worst Moonshot coffee shop in the country. After a wild prediction from some decaf-fueled old biddies, Deuce finds himself promoted to the prestigious position of Lead Barista. Boyd reinvents Deuce from a ratty busboy to the smooth Lead Barista. In that transformation, Boyd crowns Deuce with the coveted pair of Lead Barista earbuds.

That little taste of power, those earbuds, turns Deuce into a java-crazed force of nature. His girlfriend convinces him not to wait, but to take action and kill his beloved mentor so he can become manager. So, Deuce smothers his father figure in a big fat bag of ethically sourced Columbian Robusta beans. Things kinda spiral from there.

Written by half-caffeinated, half-WTF, BK Wells, with terrific tunes by the talented Michael Turnblom, Brewed Ambition features show-stopping numbers like “Deuce,” “Moonshot,” “The Lead Barista,” “Power Play,” “A Screw Up,” “I’ve Got Some Time to Kill,” and many more that will leave you dancing in your seat.

Don’t miss the coffee-fueled chaos, where beans are ground, and dreams are brewed up piping hot!

Brewed Ambition – it’s a latte fun!

Michael Turnblom is a composer, conductor, and performer who writes for the stage and concert hall. In addition to Brewed Ambition, Michael’s recent works include The Little Red Hen (with bookwriter/co-lyricist BK Wells) and The Dividing Line (Michael Turnblom, book, lyrics and music), as well as Habitual Mirrors (book by Elena Lockleis, lyrics by Stephanie Bentley and Tatiana Gomez) and For Richer and for Poorer (book by Kim Bixler, lyrics by Greg Beattie), both premiered at Broadwater Mainstage, Hollywood.

As a singer, Michael has performed with the a cappella groups True Concord and De Angeles Vocal Ensemble, and he is a bilingual cantor for Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. Fluent in several languages, Michael has collaborated with choirs and artists across Europe and Latin America.

From his home in Los Angeles, Michael enjoys helping at-risk teens train for their first marathon. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and University of Arizona, where he completed studies in vocal performance, conducting, composition, and orchestration.

BK Wells has written several plays including bad boy (San Francisco Repertory Theatre, Burbage Theatre), Grave Undertakings (Rasputin Theatre, Burbage Theatre), and radio plays with Shoestring Radio Theatre. Musicals include United We Tweet (Book & Lyrics), composer Jane Wong (New Musicals, Inc.), Rev It Up (Book), Arise Like a Phoenix, a musical celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations – co-sponsored by SF UN-50, (Book), and Bad Girls with composer Frank Schader, an ASCAP Full Participant. Musical WIPs include The Little Red Hen, a children’s musical, Buzzed, a musical podcast inspired by Roger Corman’s The Wasp Woman, and The Brat, all with composer Michael Turnblom.

Wells has several novels in print including Funny Money (two queer women decide to solve their financial problems by robbing the San Francisco Mint during the Pride Parade, Amazon Prime Reading Selection, 2022), Nothing to Fear (dumbest guy in the country becomes president), Semi-Sweet Revenge (suicidal woman can’t kill herself until she kills her mortal enemy, set during the height of the AIDS crisis), and The Rainbow Tiger (transgender superhero and their disabled sidekick must stop the extremist right president from stripping all personal freedoms), and a collection of Stupid Plays. Wells received a Pinecone Book Award in 2022.

Wells tackles issues of identity, gender, and the challenges of modern urban life, all with an irreverent point of view. Wells lives in San Francisco with maltipoo, Bailey, and holds an Ed.D. from UC Berkeley.