Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's musical Harmony, set to begin performances on Broadway October 18 ahead of a November 13 opening night, has released the title track from its upcoming Broadway cast album. You can hear Chip Zien, Sean Bell, Danny Kornfeld, Zal Owen, Eric Peters, Blake Roman, and Steven Telsey sing "Harmony" on all streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle (The Music Man, Hello Dolly!) will direct and choreograph the musical, which played an acclaimed Off-Broadway engagement at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene last year. Along with Zien, Bell, Kornfeld, Owen, Peters, Roman, and Telsey, the cast will feature Sierra Boggess reprising her performance in the Off-Broadway run as Mary, along with Julie Benko.
The musical—featuring music by Manilow and lyrics and a book by Sussman—tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, an ensemble of six young men in 1920s Germany who took the world by storm with their blend of sophisticated close harmonies and uproarious stage antics, until their inclusion of Jewish singers put them on a collision course with history. The work is partially based on The Comedian Harmonist Archive, as curated by the late Dr. Peter Czada.
The musical has had a long road to Broadway. A world premiere staging played California's La Jolla Playhouse in 1997, then directed by David Warren. A pre-Broadway tryout was announced for Philadelphia's Forrest Theatre in 2003, only to be canceled due to financial woes. The musical reemerged in a 2013 co-production at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre and Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group, with Tony Speciale directing. The California run won the LA Drama Critics Circle Award. The Broadway bow is a transfer of the musical's 2022 Off-Broadway run at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, which Carlyle also directed and choreographed. The Off-Broadway staging was critically acclaimed. It was nominated for Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Lucille Lortel Awards. It won the Best New Musical Award from the Off-Broadway Alliance.
A release date for the cast album has not yet been set. Manilow recorded songs from the score for his 2004 album Scores: Songs From Copacabana and Harmony.
Harmony will be produced on Broadway by Ken Davenport, Sandi Moran, and Garry Kief, joined by Hunter Arnold, Marco Santarelli, Jonathan and Rae Corr, Adam Riemer, Scott Abrams, Neil Gooding Productions, Patty Baker, Tom and Michael D’Angora, Susan DuBow, Michelle Kaplan, Steve Kyriakis and Matt Donaldson, Harold Matzner, Matthew Rosenthal, Paul Gavriani, Burba Hayes, Harvey and Sandy Platt and Amuse, Inc., and Addiss Keena in association with Wilfried Rimensberger and STILETTO Entertainment.
Visit HarmonyANewMusical.com.
