The cast of Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen took its first preview bow on Friday night at the Night Egg, and the early word from inside the room is already centering on one performance: Sophia Anne Caruso’s Colette.
Caruso marked the milestone herself. The night before the first preview, she posted a reel of herself singing, captioned simply, “I am immured. Performances begin at The Night Egg tomorrow.” On preview day, she followed it with four words: “Performances begin tonight. See you at The Night Egg.”
The verified audience reactions have kept coming since that first bow, and they keep centering on Caruso. On the New York Theatre Guide listings, one audience member wrote that Caruso is “spectacular,” calling her acting “exceptional and grounded” and her voice “beyond anything currently on Broadway.” Others praised the “gorgeous, intimate set design” and “really good music and vocals,” and called the show a “sultry, exciting experience with fabulous actors, direction, costumes, and set to accompany it.” The same notices are showing up on TodayTix, where early ticket-buyers are echoing the praise for her performance.
Every performance now carries a weight no one involved could have anticipated. Sheik died on September 17 at 56, just eight days before the first preview, making Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen his final musical and these previews the first performances of his music since his death. Lea Michele, Steven Sater, Lin-Manuel Miranda and others paid tribute in the days after the news broke, and the production is now playing as both a premiere and a farewell.
The musical features a book by Leah Nanako Winkler adapted from Moyoco Anno’s manga and is directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford. Caruso leads a cast that includes Cory Jeacoma as Léon, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe as Nana, Marc delaCruz as Sakae and Jenny Powers as Madame, with an ensemble of Leanne Antonio, Kailin Brown, Alexa de Barr, Michael Everett, Elsa Keefe, Jaedynn Latter, Austin Lesch, Nika Lindsay, Caleb Marshall, Jessie Peltier, Michael Starr and Thomas Winter. It plays the Night Egg, the new theater inside Chelsea’s Culture Club at 530 West 27th Street, in a 90-minute staging with no intermission, billed for mature audiences. It is the first Japanese manga to be adapted into an English-language American musical.
Previews continue nightly except Sundays ahead of the official opening on October 15, when the critics will weigh in. The run is scheduled through January 3, 2027.
TDN has been following the production’s road to the stage from the very start: Caruso’s casting announcement, the ticket on-sale, Caruso and Jeacoma’s studio recording of the duet “Sometimes in the Evening” and Caruso’s full performance of “Immured.”