Lin-Manuel Miranda is working on a new Broadway musical


Broadway won’t have to “wait for it” much longer.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is hard at work on a new stage musical, a source told The Post. 

The “Hamilton” writer’s latest will be an adaptation of Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel “The Warriors,” about violent gang battles in New York City during the sixties, the person near the Miranda family said.

Miranda’s team did not respond to The Post’s multiple requests for comment.

The sundown-to-sunrise story — which spans Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx — makes sense for the lifelong New Yorker with several hits already set in his hometown: “In The Heights” and, of course, “Hamilton.”

Miranda, 43, hasn’t unveiled a new show of his own since “Hamilton” premiered downtown at the Public Theater eight years ago and became a worldwide phenomenon.

After that American Revolution musical — Broadway’s biggest success in years — he contributed lyrics to the recently shuttered “New York, New York,” and wrote the songs for the Disney movies “Moana” and “Encanto,” along with some new tunes for the live-action “The Little Mermaid.” 


The creator of “Hamilton” hasn’t had a new show of his own since the mega-hit opened in 2015.
AP

A scene from the Warriors.
“The Warriors” is best remembered as a 1979 film set in New York City.
Everett Collection (62415.jpg)

His Tony Award-winning “In the Heights” was turned into a Warner Bros. movie, and he directed Netflix’s musical film “Tick, Tick… Boom!”.

As Broadway’s only celebrity composer (who’s not a pop singer), a brand new musical by Miranda would be an instant draw for ticket-buyers and a major coup for the struggling theater business.

A premiere date and location are not yet known, though a tryout of the show would be a boon for the Public Theater, which was recently forced to lay off 19% of its staff and slash programming for budgetary reasons.

Wherever it lands, he’s picked a fascinating title.

Some viewers will remember the culty 1979 film “The Warriors,” which is fun to watch now for its authentic shots of the bad old days of New York City. Trains are covered in graffiti, gang members of all different races and ethnicities wear funny matching costumes and the presentation is hyperstylized. 

New Yorker critic Pauline Kael adored the movie, writing that it embodies the “spirit of urban-male tribalism and the feelings of kids who believe that they own the streets because they keep other kids out of them.”

But Yurick hated it. His novel is much grittier, and he wrote it in part to rebuke the glossy image of gangs put forth by the musical “West Side Story,” which opened on Broadway eight years prior. 


A scene from The Warriors.
Sol Yurick’s novel is about NYC’s warring gangs and takes place over one day.
Paramount. Courtesy: Everett Collection.

Lin-Manuel Miranda on stage in a suit.
A new musical by Miranda would be a major coup for Broadway.
Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions

The novelist, who died in 2013, shadowed real gangs around the city for research, and even walked through dark subway tunnels on the tracks late at night. His resulting book was, itself, inspired by the ancient Greek war story “Anabasis.”

All of that is tricky subject matter for Broadway, to be sure, but Miranda has a way with finding the musical core of unlikely topics, be it Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton or the daily struggles of a Washington Heights bodega owner. 

“The Warriors,” appropriately for the mind behind “Hamilton,” takes place on July 4. 

It’s not yet known if Miranda will make the new show sung-through, like “Hamilton,” or feature a script written by another playwright, like “In the Heights” by Quiara Alegría Hudes.

But no collaborator, director, producer, investor or theater landlord will say “no” to this.



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