Lin-Manuel Miranda Adapting 70s Cult Classic For Next Musical-TGN

Summary

• Lin-Manuel Miranda, the mastermind behind Hamilton, is now set to adapt The Warriors into a musical, showcasing his versatility as a creator.

• Drawing inspiration from the 1965 novel by Sol Yurick and the subsequent cult classic action film, Miranda aims to bring the gripping story of street gangs to life on Broadway.

• With his impeccable track record and the immense success of Hamilton, Miranda’s venture into The Warriors is highly anticipated and promises to be a captivating production.

Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda is adapting as his next musical the book The Warriors, which inspired a 1979 cult classic action movie. With its hip-hop-infused take on American history, Hamilton went on to be an unprecedented smash after debuting on Broadway in 2015. Since riding Hamilton to worldwide fame, Miranda has made musical contributions to projects as diverse as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the animated films Moana and Encanto and this year’s live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, while also directing the 2021 film Tick, Tick…Boom! with Andrew Garfield.

Now nearly ten years after the runaway success of Hamilton, Miranda has reportedly lined up his next big stage project, a musical adaptation of the novel The Warriors (via The New York Post). Published in 1965, Sol Yurick’s The Warriors follows the members of a New York street gang as they fight their way from the Bronx back home to Coney Island after being framed for the murder of a gang leader. Fans of 1970s action cinema know that The Warriors went on to inspire a movie of the same name, directed by the legendary Walter Hill, that was initially a bomb but later became a cult classic.

The Warriors Movie Feels Like A Musical Waiting To Happen

A controversial movie in its day, The Warriors presented a stylized view of urban violence that turned off many critics, including Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, who both panned the film. But the very sense of heightened, almost balletic action that seemed to turn off critics is what later made The Warriors a cult classic, inspiring filmmakers like Chad Stahelski, who cited the movie as a main inspiration on John Wick: Chapter 4.

The visual style of The Warriors indeed already has the bombastic feel of a classic Hollywood musical. Though the movie does not include actual musical numbers, it does have a lot of music, thanks to a well-regarded soundtrack featuring Barry De Gorzon, Joe Walsh and Desmond Child. Though Miranda is reportedly reaching back to the original 1965 book for his musical stage adaptation, it would be hard to believe he was not also inspired by the 1979 movie version of The Warriors, which feels like it is just sitting there waiting to have someone like Miranda come along and turn various scenes into full-on musical numbers. It remains to be seen if fans of Hill’s classic action movie can dig Miranda’s new Broadway take.

Source: New York Post