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Deaf West Is Working on a Rare Revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman's Whistle Down the Wind
Directed by Bill Rauch, the reimagining will explore the story as seen through the eyes of children both deaf and hearing.
April 13, 2026 By Margaret Hall
Deaf West is developing a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman's Whistle Down the Wind with director Bill Rauch (Cats: The Jellicle Ball). The production will get developmental performances at New York Stage and Film this summer, with performances set for July 31-August 2, part of NYSF's summer 2026 season at Marist University in Poughkeepsie, New York.
The production is being presented by LW Entertainment Ltd., Deaf West Theatre, and Perelman Performing Arts Center (where Rauch is artistic director), likely meaning an Off-Broadway bow may well be in the works. The reimagining will stay true to the original 1996 musical as set in America’s Deep South in the late '50s, while further exploring the world as seen through the eyes of children, both deaf and hearing. The work features music by Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Steinman, and a book by Patricia Knop, Gale Edwards, and Lloyd Webber. Orchestrations for the presentation will be by David Cullen and Lloyd Webber.
Adapted from a 1958 novel by Mary Hayley Bell, Whistle Down the Wind revolves around the time and place where the word teenager was invented. Swallow, struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother, discovers a mysterious stranger whom she believes is Jesus. In a town where a miracle is long overdue, the children fight to protect him from an adult world determined to find an escaped convict hiding in their midst. As fantasy and reality collide, Swallow is torn between the two and begins to discover who she is and where she is going.
The musical premiered in 1996 at Washington, D.C.'s National Theatre with a Broadway bow announced to follow and Harold Prince at the helm. That initially planned Broadway production was cancelled following negative reception in the try-out run, with a re-worked version of the show coming to London's West End in 1998 directed by Gale Edwards. A separate production directed by Bill Kenwright has toured the U.K. and the U.S., but a Broadway bow has yet to materialize.
For a full look at New York Stage & Film's 2026 Summer Season—including a reading of The Maltese Falcon, Thao Nguyen and Lloyd Suh's Paper Menagerie, Quiara Alegría Hudes's Menafee,and more—visit NewYorkStageAndFilm.org.
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