Bossa Nova Musical Black Orpheus Coming to Broadway
(Provided by DKC / O&M)
The new musical Black Orpheus is working its way toward Broadway. According to producers Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey, a developmental workshop and an out-of-town regional theater run are being planned for 2022 before the show bows on Broadway in 2023. Dates and casting for all of these planned runs has not been announced.
Based on the play Orfeu de Conceição by Vinicius de Moraes, Black Orpheus resets the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in a Rio de Janeiro favela during Carnival. The original play was turned into a movie by French director Marcel Camus in 1959, and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1960. It is widely credited with popularizing the Brazilian musical style of bossa nova.
The musical will feature new music by Grammy-winning Brazilian musical icon Sergio Mendes, in addition to songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, and Vinicius de Moraes that were featured in the film.
The book will be written by Nilo Cruz, who won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Anna in the Tropics. His other plays include Exquisita Agonía, The Color of Desire, and Beauty of the Father.
The production is slated to be directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, who won a 2019 Tony Award for his choreography for Ain't Too Proud. Black Orpheus will mark his Broadway directorial debut.
Assuming that Hadestown is still around in 2023 (it is currently one of Broadway's most popular shows) when Black Orpheus is set to take the stage, there will be two Broadway musicals running simultaneously that are based on this particular Greek myth.
