“Harmony,” a musical a couple of German singing group upended by the rise of Nazism, will lastly open on Broadway this fall with songs by Barry Manilow and his longtime collaborator, Bruce Sussman.
The present, which Manilow and Sussman have been developing for greater than 25 years, tells the true story of a sextet that ran afoul of the Nazi regime as a result of the group featured each Jewish and non-Jewish members. The ensemble was referred to as the Comedian Harmonists.
“They signify the whole lot I like — they’re a mix of The Manhattan Transfer and the Marx Brothers, with difficult harmonies — and humorous as hell,” mentioned Manilow, who wrote the present’s music. “When we dug into it, it simply killed me: Why don’t we find out about them?”
Sussman, who wrote the ebook and lyrics, mentioned the present was “in regards to the quest for concord in what turned out to be essentially the most discordant chapter in human historical past.”
Musicals usually take a protracted time to succeed in Broadway, however “Harmony” has had a very protracted journey. The present was first staged in 1997, at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, and since then has had productions, with various artistic groups and casts: in 2013 at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, in 2014 at the Center Theater Group in Los Angeles, and final 12 months at the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York. There have been previous efforts to carry the present to Broadway, together with a deliberate 2004 manufacturing that fell aside over a lack of funds.
“We’re not letting go of this,” Manilow mentioned. “We knew we had one thing that was particular, despite the fact that we saved hitting brick partitions.”
The present is arriving at a time when antisemitism has change into, as soon as once more, a rising concern within the United States and past; the difficulty is at present explored on Broadway within the play “Leopoldstadt” and the musical “Parade.” “It is unfortunately extra resonant,” Sussman mentioned, “with the rise of not solely antisemitism however of autocrats world wide.”
The Comedian Harmonists have been explored by different storytellers previously: There was a 1997 movie, “The Harmonists,” and an unsuccessful 1999 musical, “Band in Berlin.” This newest musical is predicated partly on a historic archive compiled by Peter Czada.
The Broadway manufacturing will probably be directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, who gained a Tony Award for choreographing “After Midnight,” and who additionally helmed final 12 months’s “Harmony” manufacturing with the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene on the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The Broadway forged has not but been introduced.
The manufacturing is scheduled to start out previews on Oct. 18 and to open on Nov. 13 on the Ethel Barrymore Theater. The lead producers are Ken Davenport, Sandi Moran and Garry Kief.
Content Source: www.nytimes.com