Lin-Manuel Miranda Is Adapting The Warriors As A Stage Musical. We Have Thoughts
Walter Hill's 1979 cult action thriller "The Warriors" is a favorite among film fans, adapting Sol Yurick's 1965 novel of the same name into an addicting tale about a group of rival gangs in New York City all trying to track down and take out a group known as the Warriors after they're framed for the killing of a powerful gang leader named Cyrus who had been attempting to unite the different groups. The Warriors, miles from home in the Bronx, attempt to make it back to their turf on Coney Island, as the various groups try to kill them once they enter each new territory. Hill's film is as gripping as it is gritty, but Yurick's novel is an even bleaker examination of gang culture and urban rot. So of course, it's only fitting that "The Warriors" would become the subject of a large-scale musical theatre adaptation.
According to a report from Variety, songwriting virtuoso Lin-Manuel Miranda will be adapting "The Warriors" as a stage musical, which seems ... odd. Don't get me wrong, I am a pretty vocal LMM defender and think folks are a little too hard on him for being such an earnest creative, but I'm having to fight my instinctual response to scream "LOL, NO" at this news. This isn't to say "The Warriors" is an untouchable piece of IP — I mean, it's already been turned into a board game — but given LMM's songwriting style, I don't know if this is a harmonious collaboration.
There are plenty of opportunities for musicality within "The Warriors," like Luther's now iconic singsongy taunt of "Warriors, come out to play-eee-ayyyy" complete with glass bottle percussion ... but thinking about the possibility of Baseball Furies rapping through painted faces sends shivers down my spine. If you wanted to do a Walter Hill musical, LMM, "Streets of Fire" is right there!
'Be lookin' good, Warriors'
Lin-Manuel Miranda is currently an Oscar shy of earning an EGOT and is responsible for ushering in a new wave of what is possible in the realm of musical theatre. "In The Heights," "Hamilton," and even "Bring it On! The Musical" are filled to the brim with banger after banger, but there's a certain tone and energy to his work that doesn't exactly fit the edge of "The Warriors." This is a story proudly coated in blood, sweat, and filth, and LMM's work has a crispness that often crosses into corniness that might not meld. Then again, LMM is the type of creative who is constantly surprising me, like his fantastic (and grounded) film adaptation of Jonathan Larson's "Tick, Tick...BOOM!" I will gladly eat crow if LMM pulls this off, but I'm going to firmly remain in the camp of "cautious" until he leaks a song.
Then again, the more I think about it, a musical adaptation of "The Warriors" from Lin-Manuel "We Don't Talk About Bruno" Miranda could accidentally become something brilliant. As gritty as "The Warriors" is, there's also an inherent campiness to the pageantry of the rival gangs and the way they express toughness. I mean, "West Side Story" is considered one of the greatest musicals ever made and the whole plot is centered around rival gangs. I also think he could write the absolute hell out of a song for my favorite gang, The Lizzies, because the harmonies he writes for women are unquestionably incredible. Oh my god, am I talking myself into being on board with this?!
Regardless, it's happening, and now we wait to see how it all shakes out.