New Victory Theater Announces 2022-23 Season Featuring HIP HOP CINDERELLA, THE THREE MUSKETEERS & More

Today, the New Victory Theater announced their 2022-23 season, featuring nine exciting shows including Cookin', the explosive percussion show that has toured the world, running in October, and Circus Abyssinia: Tulu, a showcase of the incredible athleticism and artistry of Ethiopian circus, which will run during the holiday season. This season welcomes audiences to experience performances in person at the New Victory Theater as well as pre- and post-show activities in the lower lobby, and continues to offer select on-demand options for at-home streaming.

Season tickets are on sale today.

The new season begins on October 14th with Cookin', from PMC Production Co. and Broadway Asia Company. The explosive percussion show that sliced, diced and banged its way across the globe is back at the New Victory! Working against the clock to prepare a wedding feast, four zany chefs make a manic menu of non-stop, high-speed action that whips up into an all-you-can-eat frenzy of martial arts and Korean samul nori drumming. As the longest-running show in South Korean history, Cookin' has been performing and touring internationally since 1997, including a run at the New Victory in 2003. Cookin' will run October 14 - 30, 2022 and is recommended for ages 5+.

Romeo and Juliet, running November 11 - 20, is set in the contemporary chaos of a Southern city steeped in class and racial conflict, where two star-crossed souls collide and fall fast in love, only to take their own lives in a tragic twist of fate. Directed by Leah C. Gardiner, The Acting Company's Romeo and Juliet is a fresh look at Shakespeare's cataclysmic romance, and is a lesson in hope and healing, as the grudge between the Montagues and Capulets, like so much human strife, is no match for the fire and boundless passion of youth. Romeo and Juliet is recommended for ages 12+.

The Three Musketeers, running November 12 - 27, is playing in repertory with Romeo and Juliet-the two shows will be performed on alternating days by the same cast of actors. This world premiere adaptation, based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas and commissioned by The Acting Company, reclaims the classic as a work of Black imagination. Dumas's father, Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, who commanded the French Revolutionary Army's Black Legion in 1792, was the highest-ranking person of color in a Western military until our own time. Serving swagger, style and swordplay, The Acting Company mashes up waltz with spoken word and high court drama with high fashion hip-hop. The show is written and adapted by Kirsten Childs (The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin) and directed by Kent Gash, new Artistic Director of The Acting Company. The Three Musketeers is recommended for ages 9+.

Circus Abyssinia (Ethiopian Dreams, New Victory Theater 2018) returns for the holidays from December 9 through January 1, running circles around the competition in a high-spirited spectacle of speed, sport and skill! One for the history books, Tulu honors Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu's trailblazing 1992 gold medal win with a nonstop marathon of aerial acts and all the excitement of the Olympic Games. Juggling flags and flames to the sounds of '70s funk and modern-day Ethio-pop, this tribute to teamwork showcases the incredible athleticism and artistry of Ethiopian circus and the pride that Tulu's triumph inspired. Founders and performers Bibi and Bichu have dazzled audiences worldwide in shows that span the spectrum of the circus arts, from children's television to Olivier Award-winning opera. Tulu is recommended for ages 5+.

Hip Hop Cinderella, running February 10 - 26, is produced by Amas Musical Theatre in association with Hip Hop Musicals.com. The show features music and lyrics by Rona Siddiqui (A Strange Loop) and a book by Scott Elmegreen. The galaxy has lost its groove, and so has Cinderella! Growing up on Planet Centra, she felt as limitless as the stars, but now her jealous stepmother and two selfish stepsisters have her questioning her potential. With dazzling lyrics, pitch perfect characters and a sassy robot sidekick, Hip Hop Cinderella teleports the timeless classic across the cosmos and reminds us to reach for the farthest moon. First launched as a piece of digital theater in 2020, Hip Hop Cinderella is blasting into the third dimension on the New Victory stage for its New York premiere! Hip Hop Cinderella is recommended for ages 7+.

Baobob, running March 11 - 19 from Théâtre Motus and the SÔ Company, invites you to hear the djembe drums dance and the ngoni's strings sing as the griots tell you a tale. A tale set long ago when the stars were still babies, and the trees and animals talked. A tale passed down from generation to generation about a water-stealing sun and a baobab tree bearing an unexpected and unusual gift. Featuring music from Mali and Senegal, puppets large and small, one naughty monkey and a witch with an itch to dance, Baobab is a percussion-filled fable about a boy's heroic quest to save his village from drought. Théâtre Motus co-artistic directors Hélène Ducharme and Mathilde Addy-Laird explore the relationship between puppets, acting, live music, black and color shadow theater, and other complementary theater forms. Baobob is recommended for ages 4-7.

Zephyr, running March 24 - April 16, throws all caution to the wind with the adrenaline-driven daredevils of Cirque Mechanics (42FT, New Victory Theater 2019) returning with an all-new mechanical masterpiece: a 20-foot-tall windmill powered by sheer strength! Set on a rotating turntable, there's practically nothing in Zephyr that won't spin-including your head-as acrobats brazenly balance atop the windmill's blades and fearlessly face the Wheel of Destiny. A turbine tug of war between man, nature and machine, Zephyr is a whirlwind of circus that'll blow you away. The show is presented by Cirque Mechanics, which has visited the New Victory four times before-Birdhouse Factory in 2008, Boom Town in 2011, Pedal Punk in 2015 and 42FT in 2019. Zephyr includes several new acts for them, including foot juggling and group bicycle! Zephyr is recommended for ages 5+.

Wink, running April 22 - May 7, brings you on an adventure where dreams take flight. Fall fast asleep and wake up in the world of Wink, where mountains morph into oceans, twinkling stars turn into fish and ships sail into the night sky. With playful shadow puppetry, magical movement, whimsy and wonder, Spellbound Theatre (The World Inside Me, New Victory Theater 2019) brings you the sweet dreams of a small girl and her teddy as they adventure across land, sea and air. After all, anything is possible under moonlight's spell! Through shadow puppetry, projections and brilliant physicality, Wink communicates a world of adventure without saying a word. Wink is recommended for ages 4-7.

Shakespeare's Stars, running May 11 - 21, is also created by Spellbound Theatre. Shakespeare's Stars invites tiny hands and feet to discover infinite possibilities in an intimate multisensory experience. Bringing The Bard's best lines about the cosmos to life with starlit props, musical instruments and mesmerizing movement, this gentle show reminds us that "we are such stuff as dreams are made on." Spellbound Theatre developed Shakespeare's Stars as part of New Victory LabWorks in 2019 and 2020. Other Spellbound works developed in LabWorks include The World Inside Me in 2016-17 and Ears, Nose, and Tail in 2014-15. Shakespeare's Stars is recommended for ages 0-3.

"The 2022-23 New Victory season marks our return to presenting international shows on the New Victory stage, with nine shows from five different countries," commented Mary Rose Lloyd, Artistic Director. "We welcome these artists from abroad to our stage with great joy, and can't wait to share them with new and returning audiences."

Full price tickets range from $20 to $69 based on seating location and show. Theatergoers who buy tickets to three or more New Victory shows automatically save 40% on tickets all year long and qualify for free Membership benefits, including free unlimited exchanges up to 48 hours in advance of performance, early access to New Victory programming and savings on New Victory Family Workshops.

About New Victory Theater

The New Victory opens new worlds to young people and families through extraordinary performances, education and engagement programs. Bringing kids to the arts and the arts to kids since 1995, this nonprofit theater has become a standard-bearer of quality performing arts for young audiences in the United States. Reflecting and serving the multicultural city it calls home, The New Victory is committed to arts access for all communities of New York to experience and engage with the exemplary international shows on its stages. A global leader in arts education, youth development and audience engagement, the New Victory Theater has been honored by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, by Americans for the Arts with a national Arts Education Award, and by the Drama Desk for "providing enchanting, sophisticated children's theater that appeals to the child in all of us, and for nurturing a love of theater in young people."

About New 42

Under the leadership of President & CEO Russell Granet, New 42 is a cultural nonprofit whose mission is to make extraordinary performing arts a vital part of everyone's life from the earliest years onward. Driven by a deep commitment to performing arts access, New 42 connects people to world-class performances, essential education and employment programs, and creative communities that push culture forward. Through New Victory and New 42 Studios, the nonprofit serves artists, educators and New Yorkers of all ages with invaluable arts engagement and resources in and beyond the performing arts. Together with our supporters, New 42 opens new perspectives, incubates new works and creates new opportunities to move us all.