New musical ‘Saturday Church,’ with songs by Sia, to premiere off Broadway

The show is adapted from the 2017 same-named film, and it will feature a score from the nine-time Grammy Award nominee and Grammy winner Honey Dijon.

New York Theatre Workshop has announced that it will produce Saturday Church, a new musical adapted from the movie of the same name, off Broadway as the first production in its 2025-26 season. Exact dates have yet to be announced.

The musical, like the critically acclaimed 2017 indie film, follows a queer teenager named Ulysses who struggles to be accepted at home and at school. One night, he meets a group of other queer people who introduce him to Saturday Church, a program that provides food and shelter for LGBTQ+ youth. There, he discovers a supportive community, a passion for voguing, a path to self-discovery, and a new place to find faith.

“A vibrant, audacious musical theatre piece, Saturday Church is a necessary balm for our moment,” NYTW artistic director Patricia McGregor said in a statement. “It is situated in our world and also envisions a world centered in love. It is an earnest depiction of finding our way to the other side and epitomizes a vision for the theatre as a roadmap of how to get through the storm."

The film is a movie musical with songs by filmmaker Damon Cardasis and Nathan Larson. The stage musical, however, will feature songs by nine-time Grammy Award-nominated singer Sia (“Chandelier,” “Elastic Heart,” “Cheap Thrills”) and additional music by Grammy Award winner Honey Dijon (Black Girl Magic). Cardasis and James Ijames (Pulitzer Prize winner for Fat Ham) collaborated on the stage musical's script.

Tony Award nominee Whitney White (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding) will direct Saturday Church off Broadway. She was last represented at NYTW with Aleshea Harris’s critically acclaimed play On Sugarland in 2022.

“I am thrilled to be making a return to New York Theatre Workshop with this new musical by Damon Cardasis, James Ijames, Sia and Honey Dijon,” said White in a statement. “Saturday Church is an odyssey of becoming. We follow Ulysses as he discovers what it means to live in one’s truth and ultimately how to help the ones we love to embrace us in our fullness.

"When I first read and heard the music of Saturday Church, I leaped at the possibility to direct it — the iconic songs, celebration of body, and portrait of faith and self-discovery all combine into what I hope will be an unforgettable evening of theatre. This musical dares us to open up and shine bright even during moments of uncertainty and change, and that feels right to me."

Saturday Church will also feature choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie; scenic design by David Zinn; costume design by Qween Jean; lighting design by Adam Honoré; sound design by Gareth Owen; music production by Chris Penny; and music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements by Jason Michael Webb and Luke Solomon.

Casting for Saturday Church has yet to be announced.

Check back for information on Saturday Church tickets on New York Theatre Guide.