Both movie and musical fans should "start spreading the news," as Liza Minelli once sang. Why? Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda has landed his next Broadway project and it's an adaption of a Martin Scorsese movie this time around.
The new project will be a take on Martin Scorsese's 1977 flick New York, New York. According to Deadline, the show will open in April under the direction of Susan Stroman, who has won both Tony and Olivier Awards for musicals like The Producers, Crazy For You, Oklahoma! and Contact. The musical will feature songs from the original film written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote lyrics for iconic musicals like Chicago and Cabaret.
As Scorsese-files may already know, the original film stars Liza Minnelli and Robert DeNiro who play a USO band singer and a saxophone player, respectively. They create a duo and fall in love, however that relationship becomes volatile causing them to break it off. But, it seems like this plot won’t be closely followed.
Like the movie, Miranda's version will be set in 1946 after the events of WWII. Deadline also notes it will be about a "city in recovery." It will also feature "inclusive casting."
Taking all this information into account, there are oh so many reasons to get excited about New York, New York whether you are a film or musical fan.
The biggest thing I’m excited about is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s involvement. He has made waves on both stage and screen in the past ten years, making his return to Broadway extremely exciting.
Most notably he wrote and starred in Hamilton. Since its opening in 2016 on Broadway, it has swept up basically all the awards, has three tours going around North America, and is also widely available for everyone to watch on Disney+, a decision that only increased Hamilton's popularity.
He also has a widely impressive movie musical resume. He was part of the team that created one of the most successful Disney songs “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto. He made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed Netflix film Tick, Tick…Boom!. The musical stars Andrew Garfield in the lead role of Jonathan Larson, the mind behind the musical RENT, a topic that Garfield discussed with CinemaBlend. If that wasn’t enough, his first musical In The Heights was released as a feature film, which can be streamed on HBO Max.
Between his success on the stage and the screen, turning this movie into a musical feels like a perfect project for him to be involved in. Lin-Manuel Miranda may be the hot new talent in town, but Martin Scorsese is still churning out well-reviewed movies like The Irishman decades into his own career and also has a fanbase built in. Having one pay homage to the work of the other should be the icing on the cake for many fans.
Plus, Miranda will be complementing the work of iconic lyricists John Kander and Fred Ebb. And, to have someone in New York, New York singing like Liza Minnelli in either the stage version of Chicago or in the film Cabaret brings me immense joy.
What it comes down to is this musical adaptation is in the hands of a modern pioneer of both stage and screen, and that alone should have film and theater fans excited. But it helps that it's based on a Scorsese project to boot.
