MANGA À TROIS

Duncan Sheik and Leah Nanako Winkler turn
Moyoco Anno’s provocative graphic novel
into an Off-Broadway musical

A manga set in early 20th-century Paris is about to become an American musical, and it is getting a suitably unusual home. Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, with music and lyrics by Spring Awakening composer Duncan Sheik and a book by Leah Nanako Winkler, begins performances September 25, 2026, at The Night Egg, a new Off-Broadway venue created inside the Culture Club on West 27th Street.

Duncan Sheik

Leah Nanako Winkler

Based on Moyoco Anno’s award-winning manga, the musical follows Colette, a young writer working at Night Egg, a maison close (literally “closed house,” the French term for a legal brothel or house of prostitution) . There, she begins recording the fantasies, confessions, and private sorrows of its clientele, turning what she observes into material for her writing. Her growing independence is complicated by Léon, a childhood love whose hold on her is decidedly unhealthy. Anno’s manga was serialized from 2013 to 2018 and received an Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2020. The production is being billed as the first manga adapted into an American English-language musical.

Sophia Anne Caruso, Broadway’s original Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice, stars as Colette, with Cory Jeacoma as Léon, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe as Nana, Andy Bakun as Sakae, and Jenny Powers as Madame. The ensemble includes Leanne Antonio, Kailin Brown, Michael Everett, Elsa Keefe, Jaedynn Latter, Austin Lesch, Nika Lindsay, Caleb Marshall, Jessie Peltier, Michael Starr, and Thomas Winter.

Nkeki Obi-Melekwe is Nana

Andy Bakun is Sakae

There is considerable Broadway pedigree behind the project. Rob Ashford, whose credits range from Thoroughly Modern Millie to Evita, directs and choreographs, with Or Matias providing music supervision and vocal and incidental music arrangements. Scott Pask designs the scenery, Catherine Zuber the costumes, Brian Tovar the lighting, Cody Spencer the sound, and Tom Watson the hair and wigs.

Cory Jeacoma is Léon

Jenny Powers is Madame

Perhaps the most intriguing bit of casting is the venue itself. The theater at Culture Club, dubbed Night Egg, takes its name from the club in Anno’s manga, while its real-world address has already had several lives. The space was once home to Twilo, the nightclub that became a major destination in 1990s New York nightlife, and later housed Sleep No More. Now a fictional Parisian maison close inspired by a Japanese graphic novel will occupy it.

Rob Ashford

That collision of cultures, periods, and theatrical forms makes Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen one of the more curious new musicals arriving this fall. Manga, Parisian erotic life, Duncan Sheik, and a former Chelsea nightclub are not ingredients one encounters together very often, n’est-ce pas?

Opening night is October 15, with the limited engagement scheduled through January 3, 2027.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen
The Night Egg at Culture Club, 530 W. 27th St. in New York City
previews begin Sept 25
opens Oct 15, 2026
limited run scheduled to end on Jan 3, 2027
for tickets, visit Memoirs Musical

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦