Duncan Sheik Manga Musical Premieres Off-Broadway
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- Duncan Sheik will premiere his new musical "Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen" Off-Broadway this fall, adapting Moyoco Anno's manga graphic novel with music and lyrics by Sheik himself
- The production opens at The Night Egg, a new Chelsea venue inside the Chelsea Club — the former 14-year home of immersive hit Sleep No More
- Tony winner Rob Ashford (Frozen, Thoroughly Modern Millie) will direct and choreograph, with a book by Leah Nanako Winkler and music supervision by Or Matias
- The production is thought to be the first manga developed into an American musical performed in the English language
- "Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen" was serialized in a manga magazine from 2013 to 2018, published as a two-volume set, and won the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2020
Why it matters: Claimed as the first English-language American musical adapted from a manga, the production marks a cross-cultural pipeline from Japanese pop art to Off-Broadway. Landing in the former Sleep No More Chelsea Club space — built for audience mobility — positions it to capture the immersive-theater appetite that production cultivated for 14 years.
