Barry Manilow's Harmony Set for New York Debut at the Museum of Jewish Heritage

Harmony, Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's long-gestating original musical, has a New York premiere date on the books. The production is scheduled to begin performances at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on February 11, 2020. Presented by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene in association with producer Ken Davenport, the production is scheduled to open on March 4 and run through March 29.

A private reading reportedly took place at Sardi's on August 16 with Tony winner Jessie Mueller, two-time Tony nominee Kate Baldwin, Hadestown's Reeve Carney, Beetlejuice's Rob McClure, Tootsie's John Behlmann, former Broadway.com vlogger Jarrod Spector and Nicholas Barasch all participating. Tony winner Warren Carlyle directed the reading.

The show tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a sextet of Jewish and gentile talents, who came together in 1920s Germany and took the world by storm, but their fame coincided with the Nazis' rise to power. Manilow wrote the music, and the show's book and lyrics are by Sussman.

Harmony has had a long history on the stage, including a world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in 1997, which starred Danny Burstein, Rebecca Luker and Patrick Wilson, and a planned 2003 tryout in Philadelphia, which was later shut down during rehearsals. Tony Yazbeck, Wayne Alan Wilcox and Leigh Ann Larkin led the principal cast of the 2013 run at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre in 2014.