The Charles Strouse-Susan Birkenhead musical, The Night They Raided Minsky's, is looking to land on Broadway in March of 2000.

Susan Stroman, who shaped the dancing in the Broadway-bound London revival of Oklahoma! and who was recently announced as the director of a new mounting of The Music Man, will choreograph the piece, according to an article in Variety. A spokesperson at Flora Roberts' office, which handles Stroman, however, said nothing had been settled.

Mike Ockrent has been mentioned as director. Robert Lantz's office, which reps Ockrent, could not confirm his hiring, but Birkenhead told Playbill On-Line on May 8, 1998, that the Crazy for You director would indeed helm the piece.

Strouse is the author of such musicals as Annie and Bye Bye Birdie. Birkenhead's credits include Jelly's Last Jam, Triumph of Love and High Society.

Asked last year how she and her collaborators were faring on Minsky's, Birkenhead said, "All we do is laugh! We had a reading three weeks ago, and we should have a workshop up by the end of summer. Her favorite song so far? "It Could Have Been Worse," a comedic trio. "It's a real `guy' thing," Birkenhead told Playbill On-Line back in October 1997. "I'm having the best time with these guys. It's so completely different from these other worlds. It's a funny, funny book."

Tentative songs and titles in the score include, "Words," "Poor Cleopatra, The Queen Of The Nile;" (a burlesque song) and "A Fraction Of An Inch."

The Night They Raided Minsky's is based on a 1968 film by William Friedkin ("The French Connection"). This story of the end of the burlesque era in Manhattan featured Jason Robards, Elliott Gould and Bert Lahr.

Timothy and Terri Childs, along with Jujamcyn Theaters, will produce.

--By Robert Simonson and David Lefkowitz