"This fresh and vivacious one-act musical, receiving its world premiere at Signature Theatre, gets down to the real and surprisingly moving business of the evening: nailing the intense sensation of inadequacy that boys can experience on the precipice of manhood... The buoyant product of the talented young team of composer-lyricist Nick Blaemire and librettist James Gardiner, "Glory Days" swiftly, tunefully and yes, authentically latches onto the rhythms of late adolescence and plays them back to us as the music of wrenching transitions. Over the course of 15 spirited songs and 85 minutes, fissures are exposed in friendships, especially those lacking a capacity to adapt to new facts. It is a show that reminds us that even in comfortable suburbs, you can't really go home again..."
-Peter Marks, THE WASHINGTON POST

"The story behind the world premiere of the musical Glory Days, now at Virginia's Signature Theatre, sounds like show-biz legend: Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner, a couple of 20-year-old kids from the Washington suburbs, collar Signature artistic director Eric Schaeffer and demand he listen to one of their songs. He does, and he likes it. Dissolve to three years later, and this autobiographical, 90-minute pop-rock musical, directed by Schaeffer -- and with that song intact -- proves to be both raw and very real... something very potent has just been unleashed."
-Michael Toscano, THEATREMANIA.COM

"This charming pop musical about adolescent innocence comes from two experts on the subject...[it] should register with legions of likeminded souls on the threshold of adulthood... Included are heartfelt melodies packed with earnest lyrics about friendship, ambition, tolerance and mischievous teenage years... Gardiner's dialogue is rich with good-natured barbs uttered by the self-described nerds..."
-Paul Harris, VARIETY

"This first musical by this exciting team will be one that people will talk about when these two make it big, and they will. Trust me; these young men are going places, so get in on the ground floor... Gardiner's book... spot on and endlessly clever – not clever in that "I am writing the book of a musical, aren't I smart?" way, but in that clever way guys do, influenced by each other, surges of testosterone, and years spent in front of the television and computer screen...Blaemire's songs match the accuracy of the book, and are extremely tight to each character. Each song is unique and similar, in that each is different for what is going on in the moment, but similar in that Blaemire, like other theatre composers, has his voice stamped onto each number in that same way that you can tell instantly a song by Sondheim or Kander and Ebb. Both young men are well on their way to creating their own brand of theatre."
-James Howard, BROADWAYWORLD.COM

"[Glory Days] is about something very simple, very tangible and absolutely universal. In other words, this is Rent without the aching social conscious and the operatic tragedy but with recognizable self-consciousness and personal disappointment. Rent with a bracing injection of male teenage hormones... Blaemire's music and lyrics hint at a young man with a vast songbook still inside him. The evening's show-stopping number, ''Forget About It,'' demonstrates a skill and complexity that is the mark of a brilliant talent...the vibrant energy of Glory Days seems almost impossible to contain. It's an evening with remarkable young talent that seems to point to a very bright future for musical theatrrr. Break out the shot glasses."
-Tom Avila, METROWEEKLY

"As with many things in life, the magic of live musical theater works best when all the elements are in balance. This intimate premiere production of a small musical is a case in point. The story fits the stage, the songs match the characters, the set feels right, as do the costumes, and the performances are as clean and clear as the storytelling techniques of its young authors, a pair of 23 year olds... Now it is getting its premiere with Schaeffer as director, and it is a refreshingly honest, well constructed and well balanced piece that is performed by four very talented young men."
-Brad Hathaway, POTOMACSTAGES.COM

"Glory Days, the latest gemstone on Signature's string of world premiere musicals, is a diamond in the rough. It is 85 high-energy minutes of song with some of the smartest dialog and lyrics you're likely to hear in any musical, let alone a pop-rock musical... Glory Days is about two young writers, Nick Blamiere (composer and lyricist) and James Gardiner (librettist), who intentionally, unabashedly and unashamedly follow the dictum, "write what you know," coming together with a gutsy regional theater with a commitment to nurturing new works. And it's a delightful collaboration... simply put, this show is smart, smart, smart ... the writing talent is palpable and the acting is terrific. Some day when Blaemire and Gardiner are collecting a Tony award for one of their future collaborations, you ARE going to want to smugly tell your friends, "I told you so."
-Gary McMillan, DCTHEATRESCENE.COM

Reviews from the Capital Fringe Production of Glory Days

"As it wraps its second year, could the Capital Fringe Festival already be losing its baby fat? You might think so if you take in the trim, taut, seductively professional concert reading of Signature Theatre's new musical "Glory Days." .... A concert reading, maybe, but it's so expertly calibrated -- so tasteful! so well-rehearsed! so Equity-endorsed! -- that it seems positively un-Fringe-y. And this weekend-long foray is merely the chrysalis stage for "Glory Days": Signature will mount a world premiere production in January."
-Celia Wren "Glory Days: Polished to A High Sheen," THE WASHINGTON POST

"This refreshing new musical should have a long shelf-life. This is an entertaining, moving, and thoughtful piece.."
-Beverly Cosham, ALLARTSREVIEW4U.COM

"I believe that these two are going places and Glory Days should be the launching pad for what I hope will be a long and successful career in the theatre."
- Joel Markowitz, DCTHEATRESCENE.COM

"Sporting a more contemporary sound, songs by Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner for their youthful, male bonding musical included a rousing 'Good Old Glory Type Days.'"
- Brad Hathaway, THE CONNECTION