Lin-Manuel Miranda, Eisa Davis Ready Nas-Produced ‘Warriors’ Concept Album
It’s taken a year since it was announced, but Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis’ adaptation of The Warriors is finally headed to Coney Island. But instead of stopping at Broadway — like you might expect from the Hamilton creator and Davis, who was a Pulitzer finalist for her play Bulrusher — the duo’s Warriors are going wide with a 26-track concept album, executive produced by Nas and produced by Mike Elizondo (50 Cent, Twenty-One Pilots). The record, which is based on the cult 1979 gangsploitation flick and Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel of the same name, will come out this fall.
“We’ve spent the past three years musicalizing the Warriors’ journey home, from the South Bronx to Coney Island,” Miranda and Davis said jointly in a statement. “Along the way we’ve gotten to work with a lot of our favorite artists, and we’ll be announcing their roles on the album in the weeks ahead. We can’t wait to share these songs with you on Oct. 18.”
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The producers have described the project as an “immersive listening experience” that will feature a “star-studded” cast of voices. They will reveal all the contributing artists in the months ahead. A teaser website for the project features all of the iconography of the project — spray paint, the Cyclone, subway doors — and as you scroll down it shows more subway doors that will reveal the contributors to each track. For now, the website is silent.
The Warriors’ core plot will remain intact: The titular gang are framed for the murder of a rival, peace-seeking gangster named Cyrus. With all of gangland against them, they have to make it home to their home turf, from the top of the Bronx (Van Cortlandt Park) to the bottom of Brooklyn (Coney Island).
Nearly a decade ago, many of the cast members of the movie The Warriors reunited to recreate their iconic subway ride home for a Rolling Stone feature. Of course, they were greeted by admirers along the journey. “I just love being here with all the fans,” the film’s star, Michael Beck, who played Swan, said at the time. “I see kids coming here, eight years old, and I go ‘How do you even know about this movie.’ I found out something today. One of the stunt guys who played one of the Furies, he came up to me and told me, ‘Thirty-seven years ago, you broke three of my ribs with a baseball bat.’ I told him I was sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Terry Michos, who played Vermin, added, “It’s a phenomenon I didn’t expect, but I’m very happy.”
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