It’s love-all. Serve it up!
Ballboys is a comedy musical set in a New Hampshire ski town during the 1983 Korg International Tennis Tournament. Scruffy local ballkid Denny Bean battles his “Masshole” rival Lexington Duxbury for the love of Bitsy Whitney, whose rich father schemes to move the tournament to Connecticut.
Meanwhile, harried tournament director Janice Abbott fights to save the Korg and the town’s future, while World #2 Johnny O’Connell faces father time – and rising prodigy Kwame Dubois. As clay courts turn hard and wooden racquets give way to graphite, the tennis and romance heats up & the Furstenbraus are ice-cold! It’s love-all – serve it up!
Wait, ANOTHER 80’s tennis comedy musical?
Why this one?
Get in the ready position for BALLBOYS, a new comedy musical that serves up a unique blend of biting class satire and a sweet love story, set in the high-stakes, flashy-fashion world of a 1980’s professional tennis tournament.
If you appreciate smart, character-driven narratives with a sharp comedic sensibility and a touch of genuine heart, BALLBOYS offers a refreshing alternative to corny conventional musical theater. (It’s also one act with no intermission and 90 minutes long – too short to suck!) You'll cheer the 80’s-sized feelings of these kids and adults as they chase their dreams, all while laughing along with their failures, flaws and tie-breaking victories.
BALLBOYS is a fresh, funny and heartfelt theatrical experience that combines laughter with genuine emotion, celebrating the full community of the 1983 Korg International as they fight for love, identity, and belonging.
Be there!
Coming Soon!
The 1983 Korg International
Tennis Tournament
This recently unearthed promotional Betamax video celebrates the arrival of the tenth annual Korg International Tennis Tournament. Check it out!
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History & Development
BALLBOYS has been in the works for several years. As lifelong tennis players and, in Jim’s case, a ballkid for two professional tournaments, we believed the setting of an 80’s international tennis tournament would be fertile for a musical comedy. The show features a confluence of star players, struggling tour veterans, financiers, volunteers, and fans thrown together in a bucolic mountain town – much like the Mount Washington Valley of the Volvo International Tennis Tournament.
BALLBOYS began in 2020 with informal Zoom songwriting sessions, an initial table reading at the University of Minnesota, and two demo recording sessions in Minneapolis with producer and engineer John Munson (Semisonic, The New Standards). A weeklong 2023 summer workshop directed by Addie Gorlin-Han (FUN HOME, Theatre Latté Da, 2025; The Guthrie Theater’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL, 2024) inspired revisions leading to a full table reading at the Playwrights’ Center in early 2024.
With David Salmela on board as composer and music director, and a talented group of actors, musicians and theatre-makers joining the project at each stage, BALLBOYS is in an exciting stage of development, and set for a full show staged reading in September of 2025.
Creative Team
James Mahoney - Book, Lyrics & Music
JAMES MAHONEY is a librettist, songwriter, educator and essayist, and a former head varsity squash and tennis coach. He served as a low-level ballkid in two iterations of the Volvo International Tennis Tournament, and this experience, along with his love of 80’s (and all) music, songwriting, comedy, and the Granite State led him to create and develop BALLBOYS. He is the founder, producer and co-host of Morningside After Dark, a songwriting and storytelling series in its twelfth year. His credits include The New Standards Holiday Show (contributing writer & sketch producer, 2021 and 2023), public readings of his personal essays, co-writing and playing bass on The Mahoneys (album), and playing Allman Brothers covers in ski-town bands. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Jim is a college counselor and teaches English and writing in Minneapolis.
David Salmela - Composer & Music Director
David Salmela is a musician and composer who works across multiple artistic mediums. He co-created, music directed and composed for The Electric Arc Radio Show on Minnesota Public Radio, which led to the music theater production "Don't Crush Our Heart" and a residency at the Fitzgerald Theater. A decade before Hamilton, he composed for "The Rites of Spring," a hip-hop musical about America's pilgrim/pagan founders. Salmela has performed with Work of Saws and The Twilight Hours, and contributes to The New Standards Holiday Show. He founded Creative Electric Studios, a Minneapolis gallery recognized by The New York Times, and has scored several films including New World Symphony (2003), Urban Explorers (2007), Numb (2011), and The Claw (2024).