Lin-Manuel Miranda is reportedly turning The Warriors into a stage musical

Miranda is reportedly set to come out and pla-ay with a musical adaptation of Sol Yurick's 1965 novel, also the basis for the 1979 Walter Hill film

By William Hughes  |  August 4, 2023 | 12:58am
Aux News Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lin-Manuel Miranda is reportedly turning The Warriors into a stage musical
Lin-Manuel Miranda Photo: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic

Lin-Manuel Miranda has reportedly lined up his next big theatrical project, as Variety reports that the Hamilton creator is apparently attached to a stage musical version of The Warriors. And while the project is technically based on Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel, it’s not hard to see this new adaptation as part of a slate of recent theatrical projects that have made flashy musicals out of Hollywood films like Walter Hill’s 1979 adaptation of the book. (Although we’re pretty sure Beetlejuice and Back To The Future had fewer attempted lethal beatings with baseball bats than this one might.)

To be fair, there are certain elements of Hill’s The Warriors that lend themselves pretty easily to the stage—most obviously the tendency of the movie’s gangs to dress in uniforms adopting larger-than-life personas. (And while the film itself is by no means a musical, Hill choreographs some of its key scenes to the soundtrack—most notably the sequence that sees the gangs of New York take to the streets to hunt the falsely accused Warriors as Martha And The Vandellas’ “Nowhere To Run” taunts them from the radio.)

THE WARRIORS- “Nowhere To Run” – Arnold McCuller (HQ)

It’s not clear what role, exactly, Miranda will play in the Warriors adaptation. His career has taken him pretty far afield from Broadway in recent years; 2021 saw him direct his first film, Netflix’s Tick, Tick…Boom!, while he’s also taking up a regular role penning song for Disney. (That’s in addition to being set to appear onscreen for the company in next year’s TV adaptation of the Percy Jackson books.) We’d be lying if we said we weren’t curious about what he’d do with this particular property: A huge part of The Warriors’ appeal is the grit and desperation that Yurick/Hill put on the page or screen, and it’s an open question of how much of that pain and grime can co-exist with the rhythms of musical theater.

 
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