Following reports the production would open this season, New York, New York has officially set dates and found a Broadway home, with the musical set to begin previews March 24, 2023, and open April 26 at the St. James Theatre.
As previously announced, New York, New York is loosely based on the iconic 1977 Martin Scorsese film of the same name. Set in 1946, the story centers on the singers, dancers, musicians, and makers of New York City as they do what it takes to survive and thrive while the city rebuilds itself following World War II.
The score will include John Kander and Fred Ebb's songs written for the film, including "But the World Goes 'Round" and the title theme, along with new songs by Kander and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The book has been penned by David Thompson and Sharon Washington, and five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman will direct and choreograph.
"In 1945, 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," says Kander in a statement.
"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 theatre 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," adds Stroman.
New York, New York will be somewhat of a The Scottsboro Boys reunion; Thompson penned the book for the 2010 Stroman-helmed Kander and Ebb musical, which featured Washington in the cast as The Lady.
"I’m a proud Native New Yorker. Born and raised," shares Washington. "My family has lived in every borough of the city and specifically in Manhattan since 1835. My roots and the stories of the people of ‘the city that never sleeps’ run deep. In New York, New York we bring some of these many and varied characters, neighborhoods, languages, sounds, and rhythms of the city to life. A powerful combination of incredible opportunity, obstacles, persistence, and luck. Our story is a valentine to New York where the city itself becomes another character."
Casting and further creative team will be announced in the coming weeks. Deadline previously reported that the team will include music supervisor and arranger Sam Davis, orchestrators Daryl Waters and Davis, vocal arranger David Loud, and music director Alvin Hough, Jr., though none were confirmed in today's announcement.
The project is being led by producers Sonia Friedman and Tom Kirdahy, in association with MGM On Stage and Chartoff-Winkler.
The 1977 film starred Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro as a jazz saxophonist and a pop singer, respectively, whose marriage falls apart after their careers take them on different paths.
