Marc delaCruz and Alexa de Barr Join MEMOIRS OF AMOROUS GENTLEMEN Off-Broadway

Marc delaCruz (Hamilton) will be joining the company of Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, assuming the role of ‘Sakae’. Alexa De Barr (West Side Story) will also be joining the company as a swing.

Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen is the new musical with music & lyrics by Tony and Grammy Award-winner Duncan Sheik and book by Leah Nanako Winkler, premiering off-Broadway at a brand-new venue – ‘The Night Egg’ at the Culture Club located at 530 W. 27th Street.

Based on the manga graphic novel “Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen” by Moyoco Anno and directed and choreographed by Tony, Olivier and Emmy Award-winner Rob Ashford, Memoirs will begin performances on Friday, September 25 with an opening night set for Thursday, October 15, and is set to play through Sunday, January 3, 2027.

Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen stars Sophia Anne Caruso (Beetlejuice) as ‘Colette,’ Cory Jeacoma (Beautiful) as ‘Léon,’ Nkeki Obi-Melekwe (Tina) as ‘Nana,’ Marc delaCruz (Hamilton) as ‘Sakae’, and Drama Desk Award nominee Jenny Powers (Little Women) as ‘Madame’, along with Leanne Antonio (The Lion King), Kailin Brown, Michael Everett (Aladdin), Elsa Keefe (& Juliet), Jaedynn Latter (Les Misérables), Austin Lesch (Frozen), Nika Lindsay (Frozen), Caleb Marshall (Moulin Rouge!), Jessie Peltier (Smash), Michael Starr (Bright Star), and Thomas Winter.

Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen is the first manga to be developed into an American musical in the English language. The new musical will feature music supervision, vocal, and incidental music arrangements by Or Matias.

The creative team for Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen will include three-time Tony Award winner Scott Pask (scenic design), eight-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber (costume design), Brian Tovar (lighting design), Tony Award winner Cody Spencer (sound design), and Tom Watson (hair & wig design). Casting is by The Telsey Office / Patrick Goodwin, CSA.

The brand-new venue, ‘The Night Egg’ at the Culture Club is thusly named after a reference to the club in the Japanese manga for which the musical is based. The venue is the former home of the iconic 90’s Twilo Nightclub and the infamous Sleep No More.

Based on Moyoco Anno’s award-winning manga of the same name, Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen is a daring new musical about Colette (Caruso), a witty young dreamer in 20th-century Paris, who finds her power through writing. While working at an elusive maison close called Night Egg, she begins chronicling the fantasies, confessions, and private sorrows of her eccentric clients, slowly transforming herself from object to observer—turning perversions into art. But underneath her sharp intelligence and growing independence, Colette has her own perversion she cannot outrun: a lingering, destructive attachment to Léon (Jeacoma), her childhood love, whose toxic hold on her continues to blur the line between devotion and self-destruction.

The full production team for the presentation also includes executive producers Nobu Matsukura and Shin Yamada, and associate producers Yu Anne Ando, Mika Furuya, Ryohei Otani, and Yumi. Wagner Johnson Productions will serve as general managers.

Originating in 12th century Japanese artworks, manga are graphic novels with a distinct style evolved uniquely in Japan, which has nurtured artists and their works while building a global industry worth over $10 billion. Moyoco Anno is one of Japan’s most renowned, award-winning manga artists, known for her deep exploration of character psychology and her vast worldwide fan base. Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen was serialized in a manga magazine from 2013 to 2018, and later published as a two-volume set. It received the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2020 and is the first Japanese manga to be adapted into an American musical.

Biographies

Marc delaCruz (Sakae). Broadway: Hamilton, If/Then. Off-Broadway: Ordinary Days (Keen Company), Three Days to See (Transport Group). Tours: Disney’s High School Musical, If/Then. Regional: The Family Album (La Jolla Playhouse), Allegiance (The Old Globe), Next to Normal (Tantrum Theatre), Vietgone (Studio Theatre).