John Legend Musical Boom For Real to Cap New York Stage & Film's Summer Season

New York Stage & Film has announced that Boom For Real, a new musical featuring a score by John Legend, will complete the company’s 2026 Summer Season with an in-process presentation on Saturday, July 25, at 4 pm  in Symphonic Hall at Marist University.

The presentation will feature selections from the musical, demo recordings, and conversations with the creative team about the work’s development.

Boom For Real features music and lyrics by Legend, a book by Marcus Gardley, andd direction by Kamilah Forbes.

The musical chronicles the rise of pioneering artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Brooklyn-born painter whose work transformed the art world before his death at age 27. Following Basquiat’s passing, the story imagines his soul caught between worlds, tethered by his father’s unresolved grief and forced into a negotiation with Baron Samedi, the Haitian Lwa associated with death and the afterlife.