Beat Street hip-hop film being adapted for Broadway

The 1984 hip-hop film ‘Beat Street’ is being adapted for a Broadway stage production. To develop the adaptation, rapper Nas orchestrated a 29-hour intensive workshop featuring a specialized creative team.

The production team includes director Schele Williams, book writer Kristoffer Diaz, and music supervisor Jason Michael Webb. Producers Richard Fearn, Arthur Baker, Michael Holman, and Peter Bittenbender are also involved, with Baker and Holman returning from the original film. The project aims to expand the original soundtrack and create new material specifically for the stage.

The original film is credited with documenting the rise of hip-hop culture, including elements such as breakdancing, graffiti, and DJing. The stage version seeks to translate this cultural movement for a new generation of theater audiences.