VideoVideo: See the Cast of Harmony Perform Songs From the Show
Chip Zien, Sierra Boggess, Julie Benko, and the Comedian Harmonists star in the new Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman musical.
By
Playbill Staff
September 27, 2023
The cast of Harmony made some beautiful music September 27, as they gave a sneak peak of the show. Watch the video above as the cast sing five songs from the new musical: "Harmony," "Every Single Day," "Hungarian Rhapsody," "Where You Go," and "Stars in the Night." Come for the impressive choreography of "Hungarian Rhapsody" (with some chair acrobatics), stay for the stirring a cappella harmonies of "Stars in the Night."
Harmony—featuring music by Barry Manilow and lyrics and a book by Bruce 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 Broadway cast album digitally released August 31.
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.
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.
Manilow also recorded songs from the score for his 2004 album Scores: Songs From Copacabana and Harmony.