A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
OK, you may know the line from this classic cult film.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WARRIORS")
DAVID PATRICK KELLY: (As Luther, singing) Warriors, come out to play.
MARTÍNEZ: "The Warriors" is a movie about a Coney Island gang trying to get back home - spectacularly popular when it was released in 1979 and, it turns out, a favorite of Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the Broadway musical "Hamilton." Well, now Miranda has joined with playwright Eisa Davis to create a new musical, but it's not onstage. It's a concept album that he calls a love letter to the movie. NPR's Jennifer Vanasco explains. And a warning - this story does contain the sound of gunfire.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROLL CALL")
KENITA MILLER: (As Cochise, singing) Cochise.
SASHA HUTCHINGS: (As Cowgirl, singing) Cowgirl.
PHILLIPA SOO: (As Fox, singing) Fox.
ANEESA FOLDS: (As Cleon, singing) Cleon.
JENNIFER VANASCO, BYLINE: These are the Warriors. In the original, the gang was male, but they're women here. They're at all-gang conference in the Bronx, listening to a leader call for peace. That leader is played by Lauryn Hill.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF YOU CAN COUNT")
LAURYN HILL: (As Cyrus, singing) The future is ours. The future is yours if you can count.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT)
VANASCO: There's a gunshot, and they're falsely accused of murdering her. Now, Lin-Manuel Miranda says, they're just trying to get back to Brooklyn, but every gang in the city is after them. And the Warriors have to fight them off one by one.
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: We got to get back home. And everyone thinks we did something we didn't do.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WOODLAWN CEMETERY")
JASMINE CEPHAS JONES: (As Swan, singing) We get back home alive. When the night goes sideways, get back home alive. If the night divides us, meet back up in Union Square. We'll regroup, and we'll prepare to get back home alive.
EISA DAVIS: What are the Warriors about? Like, why are they together?
VANASCO: Eisa Davis says that's the crux of it for her.
DAVIS: It's a story about courage and about being better at the end of your travails and your odyssey, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WOODLAWN CEMETERY")
AMBER GRAY: (As Ajax, singing) And I intend to survive tonight.
JONES: (As Swan, singing) So make your move or fall in line.
VANASCO: The album is set in the 1970s, like the film. And Davis and Miranda used that decade as their inspiration.
MIRANDA: This was, like, a time of concept albums, where you would sit on your living room floor and read the liner notes to your vinyl. And we wanted to create that feeling.
VANASCO: And that started them thinking, what if the rival gangs were each part of a subculture that was thriving in the city back then?
MIRANDA: We got to play with ballroom culture in the House of Hurricanes. We have that gang on 96th Street, the gang on skates.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "QUIET GIRLS")
BILLY PORTER: (As Granger, singing) Get off the train. Get off the train.
MYKAL KILGORE: (As Elan, singing) The world's on fire, and there ain't no rain. Go.
DAVIS: We have, like, the kind of ska sound with the orphans.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ORPHAN TOWN")
UTKARSH AMBUDKAR: (As Sully, singing) What is this - a late-night cosmetology class? You must be lost. Can I see your hall pass? (Laughter).
VANASCO: And when the warriors hit the South Bronx, the music there has the flavor of the salsa that was everywhere in that neighborhood in the '70s. Marc Anthony is singing here.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEAVE THE BRONX ALIVE")
MARC ANTHONY: (As Tato, singing) You can't leave the Bronx alive. Only the strong survive.
DAVIS: A huge goal of the album was to be able to represent New York and all of its variety.
MIRANDA: And there's lots of New Yorks.
DAVIS: There's a lot of New Yorks. It's so true. Represent New Yorks - that's what we were trying to do.
MIRANDA: (Laughter).
VANASCO: Which means it's not just a love letter to a movie, but a love letter to their city as well.
Jennifer Vanasco, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEAVE THE BRONX ALIVE")
GIZEL JIMENEZ AND PHILLIPA SOO: (As Rembrandt and Fox, singing) Look. There's the train. There's the train.
GIZEL JIMENEZ: (As Rembrandt, singing) It's now or never.
JIMENEZ AND SOO: (As Rembrandt and Fox, singing) And it's just a hundred feet away.
ANTHONY: (As Tato, singing) You can't leave the Bronx alive. Only the strong survive.
JONES: (As Swan, singing) On my signal - five, four, three, two, one. Run.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A, why do I feel like gangster musical movies are your thing?
MARTÍNEZ: So once again, Leila, yes, you are correct. Now, I know this is going to shock you, but I am not a tough guy. I'm less criminal and more smooth criminal.
FADEL: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: So I always love seeing gangsters singing and dancing in movies because while I would be 100% useless in a rumble, I'd be deadly in a dance-off.
FADEL: I feel like I need to see evidence of this.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, you don't. It would just slay you. It would slay you. Now, the GOAT of this genre, of course, is "West Side Story."
FADEL: So would you be a Jet or a Shark, A?
MARTÍNEZ: By default, probably a Shark, but those Jets could really pirouette. So I'm going to both-sides this one.
FADEL: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.