Harmony

Directed and Choreographed by Tony Winner and Emmy Nominee Warren Carlyle

Neil Gooding Productions is proud to be a co-producer of the premiere of Harmony 

Harmony: A New Musical by Barry Manilow & Bruce Sussman tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, six talented young men, Jewish and gentile, who came together in 1920s Germany and took the world by storm with their signature blend of sophisticated close harmonies and uproarious stage antics.

Together they sold millions of records, starred in a dozen films and packed the houses of the most prestigious concert halls around the globe until the world they knew changed forever. Their incredible story inspired music industry legends, Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, to create a spectacular new musical with an original score that celebrates this extraordinary group of friends and ensures their quest for true harmony in the most discordant chapter of human history will never be forgotten.

Harmony is based in part on The Comedian Harmonist Archive as curated by the late Dr. Peter Czada.

Directing and choreographing Harmony will be Tony Award winner and Emmy-nominated Director Warren Carlyle. Carlyle won a 2014 Tony Award for his choreography for After Midnight, for which he was also Tony Award-nominated as Best Director. Carlyle was again nominated for a 2019 Tony Award for his choreography for the critically acclaimed revival of Kiss Me Kate. Other Broadway credits include Hello, Dolly!, She Loves Me, On the Twentieth Century, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Christmas Story, and Chaplin. He directed and choreographed Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, as well as Hugh Jackman's 2019 World Tour. Upcoming: choreographing the Broadway revival of The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.

"I'm thrilled to be directing Harmony and helping bring this show to New York. It's an important message and it could not have found a better home to start a New York run than the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust," Warren Carlyle said.

NYTF Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek said, "The core of NYTF's mission will always be the promotion of the great literary, dramatic and musical traditions of the Yiddish theater. We will venture beyond Yiddish when presented with opportunities to tell important Jewish stories, in other languages, particularly when these stories otherwise would not be told." He continued, "The storied career of the Comedian Harmonists, one of the most popular performers in pre-war Europe, represents how anti-Semitism can infect even the most 'civilized' of societies. The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene is proud to bring their story to a wider public by presenting Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's remarkable musical Harmony."

"In our long and exciting collaboration, nothing thrills us more than today's announcement that our beloved HARMONY is coming to the National Yiddish Theatre Foksbiene in New York. This is what we've always wanted to do—create an original show with an original score based on a story that needs to be told," Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman said.

This production is being produced in association with Ken Davenport, who most recently won a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical for Once on This Island and a Tony for Best Musical for Kinky Boots, and received Tony nominations for Spring Awakening (Revival of a Musical), The Visit (Musical), and You're Welcome America (Special Theatrical Event). Garry C. Kief is serving as producer. Additional producers are Amuse Inc., Susan Dubow, and Neil Gooding Productions. This presentation is being produced in association with Wilfried Rimensberger of Stiletto Entertainment.

REVIEWS

"HARMONY SOARS! STIRRING AND COMPELLING WITH AN INTRIGUING TALE LONG-LOST TO HISTORY. HARMONY DEMANDS WE PAY ATTENTION, TO IT, AND TO THE WORLD." – Deadline

"POWERFUL, MOVING AND MORE RESONANT THAN EVER." – Entertainment Weekly

"A POWERFUL MUSICAL OF THE GREATEST IMPORT." - Chicago Tribune

"★★★★★ DON'T JUST RUN, RACE TO THIS SUPERB NEW MUSICAL!" – New York Stage Review

"TIMELY, HEARTFELT, AND STIRRING." – Time Out New York

"An emotionally charged experience with gravitas. The sophisticated score by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman is a remarkable capper on an extraordinary songwriting career." – Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

"TIMELY AND LIVELY. IT'S HARD NOT TO ROOT FOR HARMONY!" – The Wall Street Journal

"DEFIANTLY LIFE-AFFIRMING AND JOYOUS." – New York Sun

"SMART AND SLICK." – The New York Times

"POTENT IN THESE TROUBLED TIMES." – The Washington Post

"PACKS A PUNCH AND SHAKES THE AUDIENCE. A POIGNANT, MOVING AND RELEVANT RALLYING CRY FOR PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE." - NY Post

"AN INSTANTLY MEMORABLE SCORE BY BARRY MANNILOW AND BRUCE SUSSMAN THAT'S GORGEOUSLY SUNG." – NY Post

"HITS HARDER IN OUR PRESENT MOMENT." – Observer "VIVACIOUS PERFORMERS, ACCOMPLISHED MUSICIANSHIP, AND LIVELY CHOREOGRAPHY." - The Washington Post

"A FEISTY, FUNNY AND TIMELY WITH SUPERB SINGING." – New York Stage Review "HARMONY HAS MUCH TO ADMIRE, INCLUDING THE FASCINATING REAL-LIFE STORY AND THE PERFORMANCES." – AM NY