The new Kander & Ebb stage musical New York, New York, inspired by the 1977 Martin Scorsese film starring Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro, will begin performances Friday, March 24, 2023 and officially open Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.
The opening was announced Wednesday by producers Sonia Friedman and Tom Kirdahy.
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Featuring music and lyrics by John Kander & Fred Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret), written by David Thompson (The Scottsboro Boys, Steel Pier), co-written by Sharon Washington (Audible’s Feeding The Dragon) and featuring additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights), New York, New York will be directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman (The Producers, The Scottsboro Boys).
Casting and additional creative team members will be announced later.
The synopsis: It is 1946, the war is over, and a resurgent New York is beginning to rebuild. As steel beams swing overhead, a collection of artists has dreams as big and diverse as the city itself. But do these singers, dancers, musicians and makers have what it takes to survive this place, let alone to succeed? If they can make it here, they can make it anywhere.
“In 1945,” said Kander, “World War II ended. In the years that immediately followed, hundreds of thousands of ex-servicemen and women – myself included – descended on New York City, a tough, gritty, beautiful dream palace, filled with youthful energy and optimism. ‘The sadness is over! This is where I can become the person I was meant to become!’ And this is the New York of our story.”
Stroman said, ”I feel very grateful to be collaborating with John Kander, David Thompson and Sharon Washington again. The four of us have loved being in the musical theater trenches creating New York, New York — a show that celebrates the city’s resilience and all the characters that inhabit it. The show is inspired by Kander and Ebb’s famous song ‘New York New York’ – ‘I want to be a part of it.’ New York is music — a city that is always in motion. Everything moves with its own distinct rhythm. This allows for dance sequences to drive the story telling, pulling our various characters through famous locations throughout the city. They come from everywhere to pursue something that can only happen in New York — because fortunes can change in a New York minute.”
The musical will include new songs as well as Kander & Ebb classics such as “New York, New York” and “The World Goes Round.” (The 1977 movie was written by Earl M. Rauch.)
New York, New York marks the first new Kander & Ebb musical to open on Broadway since 2015’s The Visit, which was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical. The duo is also currently represented on Broadway with Chicago, which holds the distinction of being the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.
The New York, New York production reunites Kander with Stroman and Thompson, who collaborated with both Kander & Ebb on Broadway’s The Scottsboro Boys, which was nominated for 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and Steel Pier, which was nominated for 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical, as well as Off Broadway productions of The Beast in the Jungle, And the World Goes ‘Round and the revival of Flora and the Red Menace.
New York, New York is produced by Sonia Friedman and Tom Kirdahy, in association with MGM On Stage and Chartoff-Winkler.
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