“Warriors,” the first full musical from Lin-Manuel Miranda since “Hamilton,” will open on Broadway next spring.
The musical, which Miranda is writing with the playwright and actress Eisa Davis, is based on a 1979 film and a 1965 novel, both called “The Warriors,” about a New York street gang that is falsely accused (by another gang) of murder, and has to fight its way back from the Bronx to Coney Island. That story, in turn, is inspired by an ancient Greek military chronicle, the Anabasis.
The show has had an unusual developmental path: It was first recorded as a starry concept album, which was released in 2024; and now, following a series of workshops, Miranda and Davis are taking the show straight to Broadway. The cast has not yet been announced, but Miranda will not be performing in it.
The one-act musical, which will have a cast of about 20, has a key difference from the film (directed by Walter Hill) and novel (written by Sol Yurick): In the Miranda-Davis version, the members of the title gang are women.
“I was really thrilled with the reception of the album and the way have fans have embraced it,” Miranda said. “Eisa and I have been meeting with potential collaborators, and what you’re seeing is the culmination of that work.”
“Warriors” is expected to begin previews next March and to open next April at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. That theater is currently home to “Death Becomes Her,” which is closing on Sunday.
“Warriors” will be directed by Jenny Koons; Andy Blankenbuehler (the “Hamilton” choreographer) will co-direct and choreograph. The lead producers are Thomas Kail (the “Hamilton” director); Miranda and his father, Luis A. Miranda Jr.; and Jeffrey Seller (a lead producer of “Hamilton”). Miranda and Davis have written the book as well as the music and lyrics.
“There’s one line that’s on the album that’s also in the musical, which is ‘What do you do when they kill everything you believe in?’” Davis said. “And I think that that question is a question that all of us are wrestling with in the world right now, and I think that that’s something that these characters are really bringing to light for us, in the process of trying to get home alive.”
Miranda and Davis, speaking in a joint interview, said they have continued to flesh out the score since the album was released and now have a more robust opening number. They said the show will be primarily sung, but that there will be some scenes that are spoken.
Miranda, who first saw the film as a child, secured the rights for a stage adaptation some years ago. “The idea of ‘Warriors’ as a musical wouldn’t leave me alone,” he said.
“One of the reasons I wanted to dramatize it was: That original film has every New Yorker’s primal fears onscreen — fear of being pursued by the police, fear of getting caught in the wrong neighborhood at night, fear of falling in the train tracks, fear of scary gangs with face paint,” Miranda said. “And then when Eisa saw the movie, she said, ‘I’m really interested in the notion of peace,’” he added. “And what I’m proud of, on the other side of two years of writing together, is the baby looks like both of us: It explores those fears and also explores the notion of what does true peace look like.”
