Beat Street Musical Locks In Broadway Creative Team With Nas

The Broadway-bound Beat Street musical has set its principal creative team.

Producers announced Sept. 29 that Nas will create new material, Kristoffer Diaz will write the book, Schele Williams will direct and Jason Michael Webb will handle music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations, Deadline.

Nas, a Grammy Award-winning rapper, is expanding the songs from the 1984 film for the stage. He is also credited as a producer on the musical.

Diaz will write the book, meaning the dialogue and story structure, based upon the MGM motion picture. Williams, a veteran Broadway director and choreographer, will stage it. Webb will serve as music supervisor, arranger and orchestrator, the team that shapes the sound, adapts the songs and decides what the pit band plays. His Broadway credits include Choir Boy, MJ: The Musical and the upcoming Purple Rain.

The producing lineup is Richard Fearn, Arthur Baker, Michael Holman and Peter Bittenbender, in association with Mass Appeal. Fearn was previously described as a UK-based tech investor. Nathan Gehan and Jamison Scott of ShowTown Productions are executive producers, a credit that typically signals added money or key support. ShowTown Theatricals will serve as general managers, the office that runs budgets, contracts and hiring.

The roots run deep. Baker and Holman were producers on the original 1984 Beat Street film. That film was produced by Harry Belafonte and David V. Picker and directed by Stan Lathan. It was one of the first films to depict hip-hop culture, Playbill.

The soundtrack came out in two volumes produced by Baker. Volume One was cited by the producers as one of the first rap albums to be certified gold, meaning it shipped 500,000 copies under the recording industry standard.

The four core collaborators have already tested the material. Nas, Williams, Diaz and Webb developed the adaptation in a 29-hour workshop, a short development step allowed under union rules for actors to rehearse and present without a full production.

For fans, this means the show is moving the usual road to Broadway. The next step listed is a world premiere at San Diego's The Old Globe in spring 2027, Playbill. Regional tryouts let a creative team rewrite, recast and learn the weekly costs before New York.