New Frida Kahlo Musical Being Developed for Broadway

The development of FRIDA, The Musical, a new work based on the life story of Frida Kahlo has been announced. With a first workshop slated for 2023, the musical will feature music by the widely acclaimed Mexican composer Jaime Lozano and lyrics by the Obie Award-winning playwright Neena Beber.

Frida Kahlo's bold and controversial life has been the subject of fascination for biographers, art historians, feminists and dramatists for decades. Now FRIDA reveals new, rarely explored layers of this most complex -- and ardently Mexican - genius as it follows her journey from Mexico City to Paris and New York, and finally back home to the house of her birth for one final professional triumph. Grounded by the rollercoaster romance between the artist and her great love, Diego Rivera, FRIDA will be a full-throated celebration of Kahlo's joyous spirit of creativity and her unmatched gift for transforming physical and emotional pain into breathtaking beauty.

"Frida still has so much to teach us, and I am thrilled at the chance to honor her life and her work through this most expressive medium," producer Berger said. "Her spirit is very much alive our young creative team, who continually dazzle me with their big creative swings and mind-bending talent."

Kahlo redefined beauty, humanity, political activism, feminism, and sexuality in her time. Through an explosion of music, alongside authentic imagery and exclusive material granted by the estate, FRIDA promises to bring audiences new dimensions of this sister, friend, artist, lover, and perennially relevant icon.

Speaking on behalf of the Kahlo Family, Mara Romeo, universal heiress to the Frida Kahlo legacy, said, "We are deeply moved that this show will allow audiences around the world to get to know Frida as so much more than just an artist. Full of joy, ahead of her time, and steeped in the culture of Mexico, she was a woman driven by an unending passion for life. I hope that this show inspires women everywhere to have the courage to fight for their dreams."

Additional news about FRIDA will be announced soon.

Jaime Lozano

Jaime Lozano. Considered by Lin-Manuel Miranda as the "next big thing" on Broadway. Joe's Pub Working Group 2020-2022. The Civilians R&D Group 2020-2021. JACK Resident Artist 2021. Jonathan Larson Award 2021 finalist. Selected works: Tlatelolco (Mexican Premiere), Myths (Mexican Premiere), El Otro Oz -formerly The Yellow Brick Road - (Off-Broadway & National Tour), Carmen La Cubana (European Tour), Children of Salt (NYMF 2016 "Best of Fest" Production), A Never-Ending Line (Comédie Nation in Paris, France & Off-Broadway), Savage (UAB at Birmingham), Present Perfect (Live & In Color). Albums: "Tlatelolco," R.Evolución Latina's "Dare to Go Beyond," Doreen Montalvo's "American Soul/Latin Heart," "A Never-Ending Line," "Jaime Lozano and the Familia: Songs by an Immigrant" with liner notes by Lin-Manuel Miranda; these last three released by Broadway Records. Film: In The Heights (orchestrations), Tick, Tick... Boom! (cameo). Currently working on: "Songs by an Immigrant Vol. 2", "Broadway in Spanglish," Desaparecidas and Frida. His project "Jaime Lozano & The Familia: Songs by an Immigrant" has performed sold out concert on venues such as Lincoln Center, Joe's Pub, The Green Room 42, Feinstein's/54 Below, Two River Theater. BFA: Music & Composition, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MFA: NYU/Tisch, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (Full Tuition Scholarship); part of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, AFM Local 802, BMI and GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY voting member. www.jaimelozano.net

Neena Beber

Neena Beber's plays include the Obie-award winning Jump/Cut, as well as A Foreign Body, The Dew Point, Hard Feelings, Tomorrowland, A Common Vision, The Brief but Exemplary Life of the Living Goddess (as told by herself) and Misreadings, published by Concord Theatricals. She is a recipient of a Lilly Award; the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award; an exchange at The Royal Court Theatre; and Sloan and Amblin Commissions. She has contributed lyrics to New York Public Library at Lincoln Center's Songbook Series: Broadway's Future; The 24-Hour Musicals; Jade Alaska (commissioned by TheaterWorks USA); and to Songs from an Immigrant by frequent collaborator Jaime Lozano. Opera libretto: Ulysses, Home and Kassandra (composer Anthony Brandt). TV: adaptation of Elsa Minarik and Maurice Sendak's "Little Bear"; Rip & Vanna Winkle for HBO's "Happily Ever After"; current co-EP, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." Screenplays: How to Deal; the short Bad Dates (dir. Des McAnuff); with director Rodrigo García adapting Cama Adentro. B.A. magna cum laude, Harvard University, specializing in Latin American literature; M.F.A (Paulette Goddard Fellow; Distinguished Alumni Award) NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Alumna of New Dramatists, current member BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop.