Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, Duncan Sheik‘s new musical based on the Manga graphic novel, will premiere Off Broadway this fall, producers announced today.
The production, featuring music and lyrics by Sheik, will open at a new Chelsea neighborhood venue called The Night Egg, named after a French brothel in the Japanese novel. The venue is located in the Chelsea Club, formerly the 14-year home of the immersive production Sleep No More.
Produced by Kenny Kurokawa, Rayman and Executive Producer Antonio Marion, who announced the premiere, Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen will be directed and choreographed by Tony winner Rob Ashford (Frozen, Thoroughly Modern Millie).
The new musical will feature a book by Leah Nanako Winkler and music supervision by Or Matias, and is thought to be the first Manga to be developed into an American musical in the English language.
Additional details, including dates and casting, will be announced at a later date.
“When Rob Ashford approached me about possibly writing the score for a story based on a famous Manga written by Moyoco Anno, I was flattered but a bit flummoxed,” Sheik said in a statement. “But once I got rolling along with Leah’s guidance and excellent ideas about how to adapt it, I was hooked. We all felt a more unique venue was best suited to this kind of production, where the audience has some freedom of movement and is not bound to a velvet seat. I am truly excited to help put this work in front of an audience, especially with this amazing group of creatives who comprise the team.”
Based on Moyoco Anno’s award-winning graphic novel, Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen is, according to the synopsis, about Colette, “a witty young dreamer in 20th Century Paris who finds her power through writing. While working at an elusive maison close called Night Egg, she begins chronicling the fantasies, confessions, and private sorrows of her eccentric clients, slowly transforming herself from object to observer—turning perversions into art. But underneath her sharp intelligence and growing independence, Colette has her own perversion she cannot outrun: a lingering, destructive attachment to Léon, her childhood love, whose toxic hold on her continues to blur the line between devotion and self-destruction.”
The full production team for the presentation also includes associate producers Nobu Matsukura, Shin Yamada, Yu Anne Ando, Mika Furuya, Ryohei Otani, and Yumi.
The Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen novel was serialized in a Manga magazine from 2013 to 2018, and later published as a two-volume set. It received the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2020.