Lauryn Hill was announced Wednesday as one of the lead singers on Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis' new concept album The Warriors.
As for whether the conceptual album, which also features Busta Rhymes, RZA, Ghostface Killah, Colman Domingo and more alongside an all-female gang, will become the Hamilton As for his creator's next full-length stage show, Miranda said it would all depend on the reception.
“The plan is just to put it out there and see how people react,” Miranda said at a Fast Conference summit in Manhattan on Wednesday. He added that the project does not yet have a director or producers attached.
The album, due out October 18, is a musical adaptation of the 1979 film about a street gang making their way from the Bronx to their home in Coney Island, encountering other gangs along the way.
The idea was initially presented to Miranda in 2009, after he wrote In the heightsbut he didn't think it would work as a musical. He came back to it in 2017-2018, after starring in Hamilton and was intrigued when he found a new way in, making the main gang all female and wondering how they experienced fighting their way back to Uptown. The gang is also wrongly accused of killing the leader of another gang, Cyrus of the Gramercy Riffs.
On the album, Hill lends his voice to Cyrus of the Gramercy Riffs, while the rest of the group is played by Kenita Miller as Cochise, Sasha Hutchings as Cowgirl, Phillipa Soo as Fox, Aneesa Folds as Cleon, Amber Gray as Ajaz, Gizel Jiménez as Rembrandt, Jasmine Cephas Jones as Swan, and Julia Harriman as Mercy.
The composer, who also wrote songs for Vaiana AND EnchantmentHe noted that it is still “a difficult story to adapt musically or for the stage,” so the concept album will show whether it is feasible, as has been the case with many other musicals, including Tommy, The Who's waitress AND City of Hades.
Each neighborhood in New York will have a different soundscape, Miranda said, noting, “It was really exciting to write.”
Miranda has also written songs for Mufasa: The Lion King, which is scheduled for release in December. The composer said he approached the project with “great trepidation” and because the original film had “five songs, all bangers,” written by Elton John and Tim Rice, and has become a major part of the cultural zeitgeist.
He was chosen to write six songs for the upcoming film and said he wanted to join the group as soon as he knew that Barry Jenkins was directing the film.
“It's a bit like Greta Gerwig directing Barbie,” he said.
The cultural impact of The Lion King, and this film, which shows “how Mufasa and Scarr became Mufasa and Scarr” has become even more profound, Miranda said, following the passing of James Earl Jones, who voiced Mufasa. Miranda wasn't sure if Jones had seen the final cut, but said Jenkins had previously spoken to him about it.
“I know we had his blessing,” Miranda said of the film.