John Kander and Lin-Manuel Miranda are working on a new Broadway musical
It's set to arrive on Broadway in March
John Kander (Chicago, Cabaret) is working on a new musical which is loosely based on Martin Scorsese's 1977 film, New York, New York alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights)
The new musical - which has been in the works for about four years behind the scenes - is set to arrive on Broadway in March 2023.
According to Deadline, the musical will also be titled New York, New York and feature John Kander and Fred Ebb's titular song, but the show as a whole is set to have a new storyline and bear little resemblance to the original film.
The new story will be set in 1946 and focus on the city's postwar recovery.
Set to direct the new musical is Tony and Olivier-Award winner Susan Stroman - who recently directed the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Crazy For You.
Producing the show is Sonia Freedman (Oklahoma!, The Book of Mormon, Funny Girl) and Tom Kirdahy (The Inheritance, Little Shop of Horros) and writing the book is David Thompson who worked with Kander and Ebb on The Scottsboro Boys and Steel Pier. Sharon Washington (Feeding the Dragon) will co-write the show.
The creative team also includes Sam Davis (music supervision and arrangements), Daryl Waters and Davis (orchestrations), David Loud (vocal arrangements), and Alvin Hough Jr. (Musical Director). General management is by Foresight Theatrical and casting’s is by Jim Carnahan and Jason Thinger.
Following the news of the musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda has made it clear that New York, New York is very much a Kander and Ebb musical and not a Lin-Manuel Miranda one: ‘Don't let the headline fool you: this is a KANDER & EBB MUSICAL. Better yet, a NEW KANDER & EBB musical directed by STROMAN! Rejoice! I was happy to pitch in some lyrics on a couple of new tunes bc writing w/ John is one of the all time joys of my life. Can't wait to see it!’ (sic)
Exact dates and venue are still to be revealed.
Take a look at some of Lin-Manuel Miranda's career highlights:
In the Heights
Lin started work on his first musical, In the Heights in 1999 while he was still a student at Wesleyan University where an early version was performed by their theatre company. Lin continued to work on the show over the years and the musical premiered in Connecticut in 2005, then opened Off-Broadway in 2007 before making it to Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre in March 2008.
The Broadway production was nominated for 13 Tony Awards where it won four including Best Musical and Best Original Score and Lin famously rapped his acceptance speech!
West Side Story
A new revival of West Side Story arrived on Broadway back in 2009 and a key change they made was that many of the Sharks would speak and sing with each other in Spanish. Lin was hired to work alongside the musical's original lyricist, Stephen Sondheim to work on the Spanish lyrics for this bilingual production.
Bring It On The Musical
Lin worked alongside Tom Kitt (Next to Normal, If/Then) and Amanda Green (Hands on a Hardbody) on the music and lyrics for the musical adaptation of Bring It On. The musical first opened in Atlanta in 2011 and then embarked on a US tour before opening on Broadway in 2012. The musical came to the UK for a national tour in 2017 and is just closing its second UK run at London's Southbank Centre.
Hamilton
Probably one of his most significant career moments so far, Lin wrote and starred in the musical Hamilton which took Broadway by storm when it opened in 2015. The sung-and-rapped-through musical tells the story of the American founding fathers through a modern lens with contemporary music and a diverse cast. Lin described the musical as "America then, as told by America now".
The musical swept the Tony Awards with a record breaking 16 nominations and 11 wins. The show's inevitable West End transfer came in 2017 at the Victoria Palace theatre where the show once again was met with rave reviews and won seven Olivier Awards.
Moana
Lin was recruited by Disney to write songs for their 2016 animated feature Moana, which starred Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger, and Alan Tudyk. Lin also provided vocals for the song 'We Know the Way'.
The song 'How Far I'll Go' was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Original Song and also won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written For Visual Media.
Mary Poppins Returns
A couple of years later Lin's name was attached to another Disney feature but this time he was in front of the camera. Lin starred in the 2018 film Mary Poppins Returns where he played Jack – a former apprentice of Bert from the original Mary Poppins film. The film has a star-studded cast including Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, along with Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and of course, Dick Van Dyke was in the cast.
His Dark Materials
Lin appeared in His Dark Materials which is a TV adaptation of Sir Philip Pullman's novel of the same name where he played the role of aeronaut Lee Scoresby. The series was primarily filmed in South Wales with Lin definitely enjoying his time there, he was even spotted at a musical theatre night at a local Cardiff pub!
In the Heights film
Everything came full circle as Lin's first musical, In the Heights was adapted into a feature film. Despite being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, In the Heights finally arrived in cinemas in June 2021 and we absolutely loved it. Lin described how it felt to be seeing the community he grew up with put on the big screen.
tick, tick… BOOM!
Proving he has plenty more talents to show us, Lin made his directorial debut with tick, tick… BOOM! which arrived on Netflix in November 2021. The film is an adaptation of the semi-autobiographical musical of the same name by RENT composer Jonathan Larson and stars Andrew Garfield and Vanessa Hudgens.
Encanto
Following the success of Moana, it's no surprise that Disney have invited Lin back to write songs for another one of their animated features. Encanto about a young Colombian girl who has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family who has no magical powers. The film stars Brooklyn Nine-Nine and In the Heights' Sephanie Beatriz and was released at the end of 2021.
The Little Mermaid
As Disney continue with their live-action remakes, The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey, Daveed Diggs and Melissa McCarthy will include the songs from the original animated film as well as some new ones with Lin collaborating with one of the key composers from the Disney renaissance, Alan Menken.
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