Lin-Manuel Miranda is ready to start spreading the news…
The 42-year-old Puerto Rican Tony Award-winning Broadway star will co-write music for a new musical loosely based on Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film New York, New York.
The musical will begin performances on Broadway, in a theater yet to be announced, in March 2023. Opening night will be in April, with Tony and Olivier Award winner Susan Stroman on board to direct and choreograph.
The show —called New York, New York — will feature numbers written for the movie by legendary songwriting duo John Kander and Fred Ebb. Miranda will write additional lyrics for new Kander tunes.
Four Kander and Ebb songs were used in Scorsese’s MGM film, including the fabled title track that will certainly feature big in the Broadway show.
Casting breakdowns for New York, New York were being issued last week. The production is believed to have a cast of 31 and an orchestra of 19 musicians.
Producers Sonia Friedman and Tom Kirdahy have assigned David Thompson, a frequent Kander and Ebb collaborator to write the book. Sharon Washington will co-write the show.
Other members of the creative team include Sam Davis, music supervision and arrangements; Daryl Waters and Davis, orchestrations; David Loud, vocal arrangements; and music direction by Alvin Hough Jr.
The new New York, New York musical will feature little of Scorsese’s storyline, according to Deadline.com/
It will still be set in postwar 1946, but the focus will be about a city in recovery, plus the casting and story will be inclusive.
Deadline has been tracking the show for some time; it’s been in development for four years; a fully-staged, hush-hush workshop was done in New York several months ago.
A Broadway powerhouse who attended the workshop but who declined us permission to use their name told us that the performance was “profoundly beautiful and special.”
They continued: “It’s about this city; this social experiment of people from all walks of life. Simply put, it’s about New York with a big band, big cast and show-stopping dance numbers. The thing to remember is that it’s not the film, it’s a million miles away from the film, just to be clear.”
New York, New York will be the first new Kander and Ebb musical to arrive on Broadway since The Visit in 2015.
