Barry Manilow musical 'Harmony' to come to Broadway in the fall

The musical, which premiered off Broadway last spring at the Edmond J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, will play the Barrymore Theatre in October.

Everything is coming together in harmony! After more than 25 years of development, the Drama Desk Award-winning musical Harmony will debut on Broadway this fall, featuring music by Barry Manilow and a book and lyrics by Bruce Sussman. Performances begin October 18 at the Barrymore Theatre, with opening night on November 13.

Harmony tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a German singing/comedy group who hit their heyday in the 1920s and '30s — but their inclusion of Jewish members rocked the six men's lives and careers when World War II advanced.

The musical's world premiere was in 1997 in La Jolla, California, and a 2003 Philadelphia run followed. A planned Broadway transfer after that fell through, and Harmony didn't appear again until 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Manilow and Sussman continued to refine the show, and it finally made its New York debut in 2022 at the Edmond J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

A four-star New York Theatre Guide review of that production reads, "The humorous moments don't feel inappropriate amid heavy threads of anti-Semitism and loss, and these threads are sufficiently explored without plunging the audience into unrelenting despair. With minor exceptions, Harmony hits all the right notes."

The cast of the Off-Broadway production included Steven Telsey as Lesh, Danny Kornfeld as Rabbi, Eric Peters as Eric, Blake Roman as Chopin, Sean Bell as Bobby, Zal Owen as Harry, Chip Zien as an older Rabbi, Sierra Boggess as Mary, and Jessie Davidson as Ruth. Casting for the Broadway production has yet to be announced.

Warren Carlyle, the Tony Award-nominated choreographer of last season's The Music Man revival, returns to direct and choreograph.

Manilow is a Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter with a decades-long music career. He's previously played multiple concerts on Broadway, earning a special Tony Award for his work, and his music appeared in the Broadway musical Disaster!

Book writer and lyricist Sussman previously collaborated with Manilow on the musical comedy The Madwoman of Central Park West and multiple of Manilow's Broadway concerts. He won a Drama Desk Award in 2022 for his book for Harmony.

Additionally, Harmony also earned eight 2022-2023 Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, including Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical, and two 2022-2023 Lucille Lortel Award nominations, including Outstanding Musical.

Photo credit: Blake Roman, Steven Telsey, Zal Owen, Danny Kornfeld, Eric Peters, Sean Bell, and Chip Zien in Harmony off Broadway. (Photo by Julieta Cervantes)