B'way Update: Warriors Musical

Eisa Davis and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Warriors, a musical based on the 1979 Paramount Pictures release The Warriors and the 1965 novel by Sol Yorick, will open on Broadway in Spring of 2027. Previews begin in March with an opening in April at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. Book, music and lyrics are by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights) and Eisa Davis (Bulrusher). Jeffrey Koons directs and Andy Blankenbuehler of Hamilton co-directs and choreographs. The plot follows a NYC gang as they travel from Coney Island to the Bronx and back in an effort to prove their innocence of a murder. The musical originated as a concept album realesed in 2024 and featuring Lauryn Hill, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Billy Porter, Coleman Domingo, and many others.

“With Warriors, we take a fateful journey through New York City full of heart and grit as our characters fight to survive,” said co-writers Miranda and Davis in a joint statement. “Musicalizing such a vibrant world for the concept album has been a thrill, and now we're coming out to play on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne. We can't wait.”

A scene from The Warriors film (1979)

B'way/Off-B'way Update: LCT Season; Mean Girls Cast

Jasmine Amy Rogers will star in two Broadway
shows this season; Bradley Whitford and Tom
Blyth will headline A Few Good Men.

The Sound of Music, Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved classic of the Von Trapp Family Singers and that famous climb over a mountain to escape the Nazis, is returning to Broadway as part of Lincoln Center Theater's 2026-27 Broadway and Off-Broadway season which will also include revivals of A Few Good Men and August Wilson's Seven Guitars and a new play from Kimberly Belflower, author of John Proctor Is the Villain. 

Tony nominee and Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle winner Jasmine Amy Rogers (Boop!, Spelling Bee) will headline The Sound of Music revival, scheduled to begin performances at the Vivian Beaumont on March 23, 2027, with an opening set for April 15. Tony nominee and Drama Desk winner and LCT artistic director Lear de Bessonet (Ragtime, Into the Woods) will direct. The Sound of Music opened in 1959, ran 1, 443 performances and won five Tonys including Best Musical. The 1965 movie version starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer won five Oscars and became one of the top grossing films of its day. A 1998 revival ran 533 performances.

BTW, before wandering through the hills and singing about how they are alive, Rogers will star in Manhattan Theater Club's production of School Girls or the African Mean Girls Play, opening Sept. 28 at the Samuel Friedman. Her co-stars are Tony nominee Denee Benton (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, The Gilded Age), Tony winner Patina Miller (Pippin), Drama Desk nominee Erin Morton (Heathers), Nia Otchere-Sarfo, Jordan Rice, Obie winner Heather Alicia Simms (Purlie Victorious), and Lucia Aremu (Cold War Choir Practice).

Back to Lincoln Center: Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men starring Emmy winner Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, The Handmaid's Tale, Transparent) and Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), begins previews at the Beaumont Oct. 8, opening Oct. 19. Tony winner Michael Arden (The Lost Boys, Maybe Happy Ending, Once on This Island) directs.

At the Off-Broadway Mitzi Newhouse, Ruben Santiago-Hudson will direct a revival of August Wilson's Seven Guitars, set in 1940s Pittsburgh. Santiago Hudson won a Tony for Featured Actor in a Play for the 1996 original Broadway production. Previews Nov. 5, opens Nov. 23.

Kimberly Bellflower follows up her Broadway debut of John Proctor Is the Villain with Born in the Dirt, reuniting her with director Danya Taymor. The story concerns a young woman in a small Souther town working at a "hospital" that produces dolls for collectors. Previews April 14, 2027, opens May 6. 

Also at the Newhouse will be Playing Burton by Mark Jenkins, directed by Bartlett Sher, a one-man play about the legendary film and stage star Richard Burton, played by Matthew Rhys. Dates to be announced.

Lincoln Center's LCT3 at the Clara Tow Theater will present creation stories and the important importants by Mfoniso Udofia (performances begin Sept. 15) and Pretend It's Pretend by Emma Watkins (beginning Jan. 28, 2027).

Off-B'way Review: Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts

Mia Katigbak and Jon Norman Schneider
in Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts.
Credit: HanJie Chow

What a difference a day makes. The first part of NAATCO (National Asian-American Theater Company) and the Public Theater’s two-evening presentation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy is a confusing muddle with ridiculously labyrinthine plots and melodramatic acting and direction. I actually dreaded returning to the Public the following evening for the second part. But, much to my relief and delight, Part Two was a tighter, ferocious spectacle of power politics. The press materials claims this early work from the Bard inspired the bloodthirsty Game of Thrones fantasy series and the second part bears that out. Originally presented in 2018, Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts condenses three of the Bard’s early history plays in a two-night sprawling epic. The action covers the seemingly endless War of the Roses wherein the Houses of York and Lancaster battle for the crown during the reign of the boyishly naive title monarch.

Teresa Avia Lim and Paul Juhn in
Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts.
Credit: HanJie Chow

Director and Adapter Stephen Brown-Fried can do little to enliven the overstuffed Part One, subtitled Foreign Wars. The young king (sensitive Jon Norman Schneider) is embroiled in armed conflict to retain the French lands conquered by his father the war-like Henry V. The French have a secret weapon, the possibly divine, possibly witchy Joan of Arc (fiery Myka Cue). Meanwhile, the devious Duke of York (steely Rajesh Bose) is scheming to seize the throne, countered by Henry’s dominant wife Queen Margaret (commanding Teresa Avia Lim). There are so many slow-motion battles, reversals of fortune and elaborate stratagems, it’s nearly impossible to keep track of them all. (Mextly Couzin’s striking lighting does help clarify the action somewhat.) In one ironic scene, York’s convoluted explanation for his claim to the crown gets the biggest laugh of the evening. 

Actors are constantly moving pylons entwined with thick ropes back and forth across the drab set by the design team of dots. The absurd black and white costumes by threeAsFour featuring weird puffy fabric choices, denote no specific period and make the performers look like they are wearing sleeping bags or comforters. Hardly appropriate for combat. Mia Katigbak does have moments of dignified grace as Henry’s humane advisor, an island of sanity in a sea of madness. (There are many interesting examples of cross-gender casting with women playing male roles.)  

Kimiye Corwin, David Shih, and 
John D. Haggerty in
Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts.
Credit: HanJie Chow

But Part Two, subtitled Civil Strife, benefits from mainly focusing on a single story arc: the machiavellian machinations of the crippled, satanic Duke of Gloucester, later to be crowned the infamous Richard III. Played like a diminutive dynamo demon by Julyana Soelistyo, Richard becomes the center of an epic battle to seize the monarchy at all costs. Brown-Fried’s pacing becomes quicker and clearer, the battles are not as repetitive and the acting is sharper. Schneider’s Henry grows more complex, displaying the woebegone king’s conflicting inner struggle between religious idealism and brutal reality. (In a fascinating double-casting choice, he reappears as a lowly messenger after the king has been taken captive.) Lim’s Margaret emerges as a wolf-like predator, devouring anyone who crosses her. A production of Richard III featuring Soelistyo and Lim would be a terrific cage match. There are also vibrant performances in this second part by Anna Ishida as Warwick, Orville Mendoza as the rebel Jack Cade, and David Lee Huynh as Clifford.

The three Henry VI plays are rarely performed, yet they have relevance in today’s world. Both feature a deeply divided country with leaders exploiting populist fears and passions to gain unchecked power. This production attempts to make that connection, but only succeeds half-way.

June 21—July 19. Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., NYC. Running time: Part One: two hours and 45 mins. including intermission; Part Two: two hours and 15 mins. including intermission. publictheater.org.

Book Review: Twilight of the Super Heroes

(Bought at Inquiring Minds Bookstore in Saugerties, NY for $7) Deborah Eisenberg's short story collection has some brilliant passages, but I found her overall style a little too writerly. I didn't feel like I was inside the characters, but in the mind of the writer, coldly observing them. The perspective shifted within the stories, which was confusing. The title story is praised lavishly in the book inside blurbs as an insightful rumination on 9/11. It didn't make me feel anything really. The perspective switches from a rudderless young man sharing an illegal Manhattan sublet right in front of the Twin Towers with three friends to his art-dealer uncle who procured the apartment for him. The young man is amateur artist producing a satiric comic strip featuring Passivity Man. The reaction of these two and the roommates to the Twin Towers devastation and its aftermath are the nucleus of the story. It didn't register as emotional or impactful. 

I liked Some Other, Better Otto and Revenge of the Dinosaurs more. The first depicts a depressed gay man dealing with his husband and family including a schizophrenic sister. The second a somewhat feckless young artist coping with her senile grandmother and her more practical brother. I felt closer to the characters here.

Off-B'way Update: MCC Season

Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp
in What's Eating Gilbert Grape

MCC Theater has announced it 40th anniversary 2026-27 season including two new American plays and a musical adaptation of a beloved film and novel. First up is Anon--a tempest at our kitchen table by Anne Washburn (Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play), directed by Anne Kaufman, previewing Sept. 25 for an Oct. 13 opening. When a gay pride flag is flown in their suburban Texas neighborhood, two families freak out. In January, Lloyd Suh's The Heart Sellers tells the story of two immigrant strangers sharing their first Thanksgiving in America. June brings the world premiere of a musical based on What's Eating Gilbert Grape? with a book by Peter Hedges based on his 1991 novel (the basis of the 1993 movie starring Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis). Music and lyrics are by Adrian Enscoe, Christopher Sears, Sydney Shepherd, and Regina Strayhorn. Anne Kaufman returns to MCC to direct.

"We've always sought to provoke conversations that don't happen anywhere else - and 40 years in, that energy feels stronger than ever. Our Anniversary Season features three very different, unabashedly American stories that share an urgency that is unmistakably of the moment," said Co-Artistic Director Bernie Telsey. "Will (Cantler, co-artistic director) and I are grateful to explore these worlds with the adventurous artists, audiences, and supporters who make MCC what it is. This season will be a celebration for everyone. Find us in the lobby, we can't wait to talk to you!"

Post-Tony Thoughts

P!nk at the Tonys.
Yes, I took the picture from my TV set.

It's been more than a week since the Tony Awards and I've been struggling to figure out what I want to say about the annual celebration of all things Broadway. It was a fairly good production. When pop music star P!nk who has no theater credits at all and whose only connection to the Main Stem is a few of her songs are in the jukebox scores of Moulin Rouge and & Juliet, was announced as the hostess, I was skeptical. Was this merely a desperate ploy to get a new demographic to watch? Also there had been calls to boycott the Tonys because of CBS' parent company Paramount being taken over by the Trump-friendly Ellison family. (Also the producer of Tony winning Best Musical Schmigadoon! is evidently a big MAGA donor.)

To my surprise, P!nk acquitted herself quite well and humbly took on the role of an enthusiastic newcomer from another media not wishes to intrude on the party but to help make it fun. I could have done without the limp comic bits with Darren Criss pretending to be scared of leaping off the balcony and Ariana DeBose offering not-funny hostess advice. The opening number about leading ladies was clever, but I couldn't understand most of the lyrics. P!nk was spectacular in the Chicago tribute and it served as a knock-out audition for her to join the company. The Chorus Line tribute was unnecessary. Once again, the show ran close to four hours (if you count the Pluto TV pre-show) and just like last year they did not mention the Pluto winners on the CBS broadcast (except for the Outstanding Theater Teacher). And the Special Tony Honors winners--entertainment lawyer Loren Plotkin, stage manager Jake Bell, 1/52 Project, creative director Kenn Lubin and the League of Resident Theaters--weren't even mentioned at all. At least on the Oscars, they show clips of the Special Awards handed out earlier in the week.

I got 20 out of 26 right in my predictions. The only real surprise was Ali Louis Bourzgui winning Featured Actor in a Musical for The Lost Boys. I think the vote was split between Andre De Shields of Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Ben Levi Ross of Ragtime who won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. I was especially glad for Schmigadoon! winning Best Musical, Book and Score. Maybe this will lead to Schmicago (the Apple TV series's second season) making to Broadway and the third season, Into the Schmoods, getting filmed by Apple.

Book Review: Bad Behavior

(Bought at Time and Space Limited in Hudson, NY for $4) Mary Gaitskill's first collection of stories features some pretty twisted souls. Secretary (which was adapted into a 2002 film) features a weird relationship between the titular office worker and her attorney-boss combining elements of S&M, spanking and workplace harassment, but she seems to enjoy it. A Romantic Weekend also borders on sadomasochism, but the two lovers can't seem to agree on what they want. Prostitution is a main element in several of the tales as the heroines grapple with feeling trapped in the world's oldest profession. A customer is the main focus of another story as he falls for a working girl but is shattered when he encounters her in the outside "real" world. Gaitskill portrays these people without judgement. My favorite was the last, longest story, Heaven in which a woman deals with her repressed husband, four children going through different phases of rebellion and a troubled niece who comes to live with the family. Virginia goes through numerous difficulties and tragedies without really examining her life or her feelings and finally accepts her lot. Gaitskill reminds me of A.M. Homes and Lorrie Moore with her short, sharp, detailed observations of characters muddling through challenging but mundane lives.