It tells the story of a madam, the brothel prostitutes, a jazz horn player and "Little Lou", a child who dreams of being a musician as well.
McKayle directed and choreographed the Buster Davis musical, a production fraught with troubles that included a difficult relationship with producer Cyma Rubin.
McKayle contributed some input to the songs, and suggested selections of antebellum music that could inform the content.
It was planned to open on Broadway in fall 1982, with Donald McKayle as director and choreographer and Geoffrey Holder as costume designer.
[8] That July, New Orleans went into a six-week workshop production, with a cast that included Carmen de Lavallade, Lynne Thigpen and folksinger Odetta.
[10] Variety reported in March 1983 that producer Kevin Gebhard disagreed with Morrison and McKayle on the direction future rewrites would take, and exited the project.
The production was directed by Ron Himes[12] In his memoir, Donald McKayle described the show as ultimately unsuccessful: "Some of the songs that emerged were wonderful and the language exquisite, but the play did not hang together."
[13] In 1986, nearing the premiere of her play Dreaming Emmett, Toni Morrison noted to a reporter from UPI that she did not consider herself a playwright, and also that she intentionally did not list New Orleans among her credits because she did not originate the concept.
"[14] A decade later, theatre artist Mark Green, who had attended both workshop and reading of New Orleans, encouraged McKayle to continue to develop the premise as a musical.