HBS Show 2026

Every year, Harvard Business School classmates pursue ventures, roll-up businesses, and enter velvet-roped industries. Some students put on a musical. 

This year, HBS Show co-writers Sri Nimmagadda and Dipak Kumar ginned up a show about an issue all too familiar to Cantibrigians: budget cuts. But it takes on a dystopian twist. “Because of budget cuts at the school, the administration had to actually sell to someone else and get acquired by a TV network,” says Nimmagadda. “Then all the students' lives are actually being streamed for everyone around the world to see."  

Since 1974, HBS students have staged original musical productions, even going virtual during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of its long history, HBS alumni often look forward to seeing new productions every year. This year's production—"The HB(TV) Show"—has drawn numerous sponsors, including Leader Bank, a Massachusetts-based community bank that provides customized solutions to meet the needs of every client, making them a one-stop shop for all your banking and lending needs. 

For most business school students, penning musicals ranks far below Excel proficiency on resumes. Kumar, who previously worked at a venture philanthropy firm, has always loved writing, but rarely had the chance to pursue it beyond his jobs. Nimmagadda worked at NBCUniversal and Netflix, but toiled on the strategy side. “One of the great things about this place is that you can kind of pursue new passions,” says Kumar. 

Nimmagadda and Kumar led an eleven-person writers’ room, which wrote the dialogue and around ten songs. They both hope the audience sees themselves reflected in the musicals’ characters—who navigate the all-too-familiar worlds of reality television shows.

Part of their goal is to highlight how students can succeed by being themselves instead of performing in class. “Harvard can be a place where you don't have to pretend, and you can be your authentic self and be accepted, even if it doesn't always feel that way at first,” says Nimmagadda. 

It is set to debut on April 13 and will run for three nights. They expect to keep editing the script up until opening night. “We write lines a lot of the time, but we actually don't know how they're going to come across, whether they'll be well said, or whether the actors will actually kind of trip up on it,” says Nimmagadda. 

Patti Wang, the show’s director, oversaw casting, with input from the writers and assistant directors. “She’s the architect that makes this, the whole thing go,” says Kumar.

Andrew Zucker (MBA '27) is a member of the team behind the HBS Show.