Posted: 4/19/22 at 2:47pm
The new musical features a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz and direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo.
Producers Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey announced that Academy Award Nominated and Latin Grammy Winner Carlinhos Brown and Academy Award Nominated and Grammy Award Winner Siedah Garrett have joined the all-star creative team of the new musical stage adaptation of Black Orpheus as composer and lyricist, respectively. This announcement comes on the eve of the long-awaited return of Brazil's Carnival - the biggest celebration on earth, which has been cancelled for the past two years due to COVID-19.
The show is currently being readied for its world premiere on Broadway during the 2023-2024 season, which would make it the first Brazilian musical in the history of Broadway. A developmental workshop and an out-of-town regional theatre run are being planned for Fall 2022 and early 2023, respectively, before heading to Broadway in the 2023-2024 season. In addition to the original new music, the score will include many of the legendary Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, and Vinicius de Moraes themes from the motion picture.
Originally based on the play Orfeu de Conceição by the great Moraes, Black Orpheus resets the classic Greek love story of Eurydice and Orfeu against the backdrop of a Rio de Janeiro favela during Carnival. Equal parts celebratory, erotic, haunting and tragic, Black Orpheus became an instant classic of popular culture, winning the Cannes Palme d'Or and the 1959 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and introduced the world to Bossa Nova.
