Schele Williams, Kristoffer Diaz, and Jason Michael Webb Join Nas in BEAT STREET Creative Team

Beat Street, the Broadway-bound musical based on the 1984 film, has assembled its principal creative team, joining the previously announced GRAMMY Award-winner Nas, who is creating new material for the production, and expanding the film’s soundtrack.

Schele Williams (Broadway: The Wiz, The Notebook co-directed with Michael Greif) will direct Beat Street. Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz (Broadway: Hell’s Kitchen; Off-Broadway: The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity) will write the show’s book, based upon the MGM Motion Picture. Special Tony Award recipient Jason Michael Webb (Broadway: Choir Boy, MJ: The Musical, Purple Rain) joins the team as music supervisor, arranger, and orchestrator.

Last month, Nas, Williams, Diaz and Webb collaborated on a 29-hour workshop to develop the stage adaptation. Further details concerning casting and production timeline will be shared in the coming months.

About Beat Street

Set in the early 1980s, Beat Street revolves around a group of aspiring young talents in the South Bronx, including a graffiti artist, a DJ, and a break-dancer, as they pursue their dreams in the emerging hip-hop scene while facing the challenges of urban life.

Beat Street was one of the first films to depict hip-hop culture, including breakdancing, mixing, scratching, and graffiti art. Nas has called Beat Street his favorite film, and it has also been cited by such artists as Ice-T, Ice Cube, LL Cool J and Lin-Manuel Miranda, among many others, for its influence and impact. 

Produced by the legendary Harry Belafonte and David V. Picker, with music by Harry Belafonte and Arthur Baker, story by Steven Hager, screenplay by Andrew Davis, David Gilbert & Paul Golding, and directed by Stan Lathan, Beat Street starred Rae Dawn Chong, Gus Davis, and Jon Chardiet.

The film was also notable for appearances by major artists of the era, including Doug E. Fresh, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambataa & The Sonic Force, Us Girls, The Treacherous Three, Magnificent Force, The New York City Breakers, Rock Steady Crew, and Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five, among others.

Beat Street on Broadway will be produced by Richard Fearn, Arthur Baker, Michael Holman, and Peter Bittenbender, in association with Mass Appeal. Baker and Holman were producers on the original 1984 film. The wildly successful Beat Street soundtrack, released in two volumes, was produced by Baker, with Volume One cited as one of the first rap albums to be certified gold.

ShowTown Theatricals will serve as General Managers. Nathan Gehan and Jamison Scott of Showtown Productions are executive producers of Beat Street.

Biographies

NAS (Creative Producer/Lyricist). Timeless poet and rhyme-master Nas delivered his first full-length album Illmatic in 1994. Nas went on to release 14 subsequent albums, eight of which are multi-platinum and platinum including Nastradamus, Stillmatic, God’s Son and Street’s Disciple. With 16 GRAMMY nominations, Nas released King’s Disease in 2020, giving Nas his first-ever GRAMMY win for “Best Rap Album.” In August of 2021, Nas released King’s Disease II, the sequel to the GRAMMY Award-winning album, and subsequently completed the King’s Disease Trilogy with the release of King’s Disease III, executive produced by Nas and Hit-Boy in 2022, with both albums earning GRAMMY nominations for “Best Rap Album.” Most recently, Nas and Hit-Boy released Magic 3, featuring 15 brand-new tracks, also marking the final chapter of the legendary run for the prolific rapper-producer duo. Magic 3 serves as the duo’s sixth album together in the last three years and is also the third installment to the Magic series. In addition to his vast and storied accomplishments in the music world, Nas has brought his keen eye for storytelling into film and TV. Nas has served as an executive producer on “The Get Down” (Netflix) with Baz Luhrman, “The Land” (MACRO/IFC Films) with Steven Caple Jr., and the Emmy-nominated “The Supreme Team” (Showtime) which he also directed. In 2016, Nas won an Emmy Award for directing “Survival 1” for ESPN documentary shorts. Legendary hip hop mogul, co-founder of Mass Appeal Records, actor, and executive producer, Nas’ extensive catalog speaks for itself.

Kristoffer Diaz (Book). Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Diaz is a versatile playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. His acclaimed musical Hell’s Kitchen garnered 13 Tony nominations during its multi-year Broadway tenure and is currently being performed on a North American national tour and in Seoul, South Korea. Notable works include Welcome to Arroyo’s, Things With Friends, Reggie Hoops, Football Football Football Football, and The Unfortunates. His plays have been showcased at The Public Theater, Goodman Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. A recipient of Guggenheim and OBIE Awards, he also received the New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. Diaz has developed television pilots for HBO and FX, written for Netflix’s GLOW, and adapted Rent for FOX. He currently serves on the Dramatists Guild Council and teaches playwriting at New York University.

Schele Williams (Director) is an award-winning director, author, and cultural leader committed to cultivating work that centers authentic representation onstage and off. Williams made history by becoming only the second Black woman to direct a Broadway musical. Her Broadway directing credits include the 50th-anniversary revival of The Wiz and its national tour, as well as The Notebook and its national tour, co-directed with Michael Greif. The cast recordings of both productions received GRAMMY nominations. Her other Broadway credits include Motown: The Musical (associate director), Rent (actor and associate choreographer), and Aida (Nehebka, original Broadway cast). Williams also directed Disney’s revival of Aida and has directed at leading regional theatres and festivals across the country, including the Kennedy Center, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, New York Stage and Film, NAMT, and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Williams received the 2024 Founders Award for Excellence in Directing. A TEDx speaker and advocate for equity in the arts, she is a founding member of Black Theatre United and serves on the board of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Williams is the author of the bestselling Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History, recipient of a 2022 Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor. Her next book, The Expert’s Guide to Being a Big, will be published in September 2028.

Jason Michael Webb (Music Supervisor/Arranger/Orchestrator) is a Special Tony Award recipient and two-time GRAMMY nominee whose work as a music supervisor, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, producer, and music director spans Broadway, gospel, film, and popular music. Webb began playing piano at age four and was working professionally in churches by the age of nine, an early foundation that continues to inform his musical life and work. Webb currently serves as Music Director of MJ on Broadway, for which he received Tony and GRAMMY nominations for his orchestrations and production, respectively. His Broadway credits also include Choir Boy, for which he received a Special Tony Award, The Color Purple, and Motown: The Musical. His recent work as a music supervisor, arranger, and orchestrator includes Saturday Church, featuring music by GRAMMY-nominated artist Sia, and Revolution(s), featuring the catalogue of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tom Morello. Webb’s film credits include The Greatest Showman, Respect (Executive Music Producer), and the acclaimed 2021 filmed production of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, which he directed. Recent television credits include “The Ms. Pat Show” and “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.” Throughout his career, Webb has collaborated with artists including Jennifer Hudson, Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan, Cynthia Erivo, and Durand Bernarr, reflecting a musical voice equally at home on stage, on screen, and in the recording studio. Webb also serves as Music Supervisor, Arranger, and Orchestrator of the Broadway-bound Purple Rain, helping reimagine Prince’s landmark score for the stage.