Chilina Kennedy, Manu Narayan, A.J. Shively, More Set for Reading of New Musical Iraqi Rose

An invitation-only reading of Iraqi Rose, a new musical from Larry Kirwan, the Tony-nominated librettist of the 2022 Broadway musical Paradise Square, will be held January 27 at The Irish Arts Center in New York City.

Directed by Joe Barros, the reading will feature Chilina Kennedy (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Paradise Square), Van Hughes (Almost Famous, Spring Awakening), Cory Jeacoma (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Manu Narayan (Company, My Fair Lady), Sharone Sayegh (The Band’s Visit), A.J. Shively (Paradise Square, Bright Star), and Kristopher Stanley Ward (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical).

Kirwan, leader of the Irish political rock band Black 47, was inspired to write the new musical after receiving emails from Black 47 fans serving in Iraq. Iraqi Rose explores an incident that occurred in Baghdad in 2006 and follows a former soldier who later runs for Congress.

Mark Fifer (Little Girl Blue) is the musical director, and Jeffrey Chrzczon is the general manager.

The project reunites Kirwan with director Barros after collaborating on Kirwan’s musical Hard Times, on which Paradise Square was based.