Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis announce ‘Warriors’ concept album

It’s time for Warriors to come out and play.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis announced Thursday that they will release a 26-song concept album of their musical, Warriors, on Oct. 18.

Based on the 1979 filmThe Warriors, itself adapted from Sol Yurick’s novel, Warriors follows a fictitious New York City gang from Coney Island to the Bronx and back when they are framed for the murder of a respected gang leader, Cyrus.

Though it had been previously reported that Miranda’s next musical theater project would be an adaptation of The Warriors, he and co-writer, Eisa Davis, surprised fans with the announcement of this concept album rather than a Broadway run. It marks Miranda’s first full-length theatrical score since Hamilton, though he has been composing avidly for film and television.

“We’ve spent the past three years musicalizing the Warriors’ journey home, from the South Bronx to Coney Island,” Miranda and Davis said in a joint statement. “Along the way we’ve gotten to work with a lot of our favorite artists, and we’ll be announcing their roles on the album in the weeks ahead. We can’t wait to share these songs with you on October 18th.”

The album has serious hip-cop credentials with Grammy-winning rapper Nas serving as executive producer. The cast of voice artists, which the release promises is “star-studded,” will be announced over the coming weeks. Mike Elizondo, who produced The Hamilton Mixtape, is also serving as a producer.

This isn’t the first time Miranda has used the notion of a concept album to frame his work. Hamilton, his Pulitzer-Prize winning phenomenon, began as Hamilton Mixtape, a set of pieces he performed live. Additionally, in 2016, he released The Hamilton Mixtape, a recording and remix of the songs from Hamilton featuring a series of guest artists, including Kelly Clarkson, The Roots, and Nas.

There’s a long history of Broadway hits beginning their lives as concept albums, including The Who’s Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess, Jekyll & Hyde, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Hadestown.

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Miranda’s writing partner, Davis, is a theatrical force in her own right. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play, Bulrusher, wrote songs for a musical version of Devil In a Blue Dress, and served as a writer on both seasons of Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It. Davis is also an actor and played memorable roles on TV and streaming series House of Cards, The Wire, Succession, Ahsoka, and more.

There are currently no plans in place for a Broadway run of Warriors.