How Lin Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis Conquered the Streets of New York with their album, “Warriors”
By: Rose Caisley'26
Photo courtesy of NPR and Jimmy Fontaine/Atlantic Records
“Can you count suckers?” is the first line of dialogue spoken by the charismatic gang leader Cyrus in the cult classic film “The Warriors” as he preaches to an audience of New York’s worst gang members. As Cyrus continues, this line is quickly followed by another question, the now iconic phrase “Can you dig it?” before he unceremoniously shoots. It's not exactly what most people would consider inspirational. But then again, Lin Manuel Miranda isn’t like most people. The Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning songwriter first watched “The Warriors” when he was 4 years old (which almost anyone would agree is way too young) and has been hooked on the story of a rag-tag gang from Coney Island ever since. Unsurprisingly, after the success of his other passion project, a little-known show called “Hamilton,” Miranda decided to revisit the 1979 movie with collaborator and Pulitzer Prize nominee Eisa Davis in a concept album titled “Warriors.”
But before we dive into the album, let's reexamine the film it is based on. Released in 1979, “The Warriors” was based on Sol Yurick’s 1965 book of the same name. It tells the story of a gang from Coney Island called the Warriors, who travel to a peace meeting in the Bronx. This meeting is called by Cyrus, the leader of the biggest gang in New York City. At the meeting, Cyrus gives a speech about how if all the gangs combine their resources, they will have the strength to outnumber both organized crime and the police to effectively run the city. But tragedy strikes as before Cyrus can go any further, he is shot by Luther, a maniacal member of the Rogues, who pins his crime on the Warriors. Pursued by every gang in the city, the Warriors must flee back to their home in Brooklyn.
Miranda and Davis’ musical version follows many of the same beats as the movie but makes one notable difference: in their world, the Warriors are played by women. This change gives the concept album an electric energy that differentiates it meaningfully from its source material. It also revitalizes the romance between reluctant leader Swan (Catherine Cephas Jones) and Mercy (Julia Harriman), a young woman who ends up abandoning everything to join the Warriors, recasting their love story as a tender love affair. Cast members include “Hamilton” alums Phillipa Soo and Jasmine Cephas Jones, as well as other Broadway legends such as Amber Gray and Billy Porter. Some of New York’s most legendary rappers appear as manifestations of different boroughs (including Busta Thymes and RZA). Style-wise, you can expect many of the rap and hip-hop overtures signature to Miranda’s style, but the composers incorporate every genre, from pop-punk to heavy metal to salsa, in an effort to portray the different diverse gangs in New York City. One of the elements that makes the movie stand out is the lack of dialogue. Many of the most impactful, jarring, and meaningful moments of the show are conveyed through looks. One of the most beautiful moments in the movie is when Swan and Mercy are sitting on the subway, battered and dirty after a fight, and four young socialites in beautiful dresses and suits get on the train. Self-conscious, Mercy moves to fix her hair but is stopped by Swan, as if to say, “You don’t have to change for them—you’re perfect the way you are.” Miranda and Davis preserve the moment through beautiful narration in the song “Same Train Home.” Similar silent moments, such as the ominous arrival of the Baseball Furies, a gang whose schtick is they wear baseball uniforms, are also captured in all its unsettling glory in “Outside Gray’s Papaya.” Other stand-out songs include “Survive the Night,” where the previously mentioned New York rappers become the different boroughs of New York, Swan and Mercy’s duet “A Light or Somethin’,” and “Somewhere in the City,” a hopeful song that imagines a New York free from divisive violence.
Lin Manuel Miranda has given fans of both the original movie and his previous work a true feast for the ears, and Eisa Davis’ unique style and out-of-the-box thinking shine through in every song. The only question is…. can you dig it?
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