At the Zack Box Theater in Boston on May 3, 2026, Michal Nissimoff premiered Nobody Thinks They’re the Bad Guy, a solo musical theater cabaret that turns a simple question — why do people do what they do? — into a live experiment in empathy. Addressing the audience directly, Nissimoff proposes to try on a series of “misunderstood characters” before, as she suggests, attempting the same understanding on real people. What follows is the experiment itself.
One by one, she becomes them: Delilah, heard through Regina Spektor’s “Samson”; Leo Frank from Parade, a man the world has already judged; Sweeney Todd at the moment he convinces himself that murder is justice; and others, mainly drawn from the musical theater canon. There are no costume changes and almost no set. Each character is built through acting alone, through shifts in physicality and voice that distinguish one from the next. Accompanied by pianist Scott Nichols, the result is intimate and exposed, the whole show resting on a single performer’s range.
As the piece goes on, the effort becomes part of the performance. Nissimoff’s between-song patter shifts from brisk introductions into something more tired and candid; she acknowledges how much it takes to keep seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. The argument emerges from that turns personal toward the end: a reflection on being cast as the villain for where you’re from or how you live, and on perspective-taking as a means of survival. The closing line doubles as the thesis: nobody thinks they’re the bad guy.
The evening showcases the interdisciplinary instincts that define Nissimoff’s work as a performer and maker, and a vocal practice rooted in somatic technique that lets her carry an entire cast in one body.
