A new stage production loosely based on Martin Scorsese’s 1977 Golden Globe-nominated musical drama film, New York, New York, is set to debut on Broadway in March 2023. Tony and Olivier Award winner Susan Stroman will direct and choreograph the production, whose theater has not yet been announced, Deadline is reporting.
The theatrical adaptation, which is also titled New York, New York, will feature routines penned for the movie by legendary songwriting duo John Kander and Fred Ebb; the composer and late lyricist are also known for working on the stage musicals versions of Chicago and Cabaret.
Three-time Tony Award-winning playwright, Lin-Manuel Miranda is set to return to Broadway with New York, New York, after he created the hit musicals Hamilton and In the Heights. The Grammy Award-winning songwriter is set to scribe additional lyrics for new Kander tracks. Four Kander and Ebb tunes were used in Scorsese’s MGM film, including the celebrated title song.
Casting announcements for the New York, New York Broadway musical are set to be released today, and the casting is expected to be inclusive. The show is believed to have a cast of 31 actors and an orchestra of 19 musicians.
Producers Sonia Friedman (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and Tom Kirdahy (Inheritance) have brought on David Thompson, a frequent Kander and Ebb collaborator (The Scottsboro Boys, Steel Pier) to pen the upcoming production’s book. Acclaimed Feeding the Dragon scribe, Sharon Washington has been brought on to co-write the theatrical adaptation.
Other members of the Broadway production’s 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 stage production of New York, New York reportedly won’t include the characters played by Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli in the film. The film starred Minnelli as Francine Evans, a lounge singer who falls for saxophonist Jimmy Doyle, played by De Niro. Their romance gives way to their respective ambitions and dreams of music stardom in the titular city in the 1940s.
The Broadway musical also won’t feature much of the storyline from the movie, which was written by Mardik Martin and Earl Mac Rauch. The stage production will still take place in postwar 1946, but the focus will be about a city in recovery.
New York, New York has been in development for four years, but its production was delayed in part while Broadway was closed during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A fully-staged workshop of the musical did take place in New York several months ago, however.
New York, New York will be the first new Kander and Ebb musical to premiere on Broadway since The Visit debuted in 2015.