Joseph Kipness, Lawrence Kasha and Tom O'Horgan have joined forces to produce "Inner City" a new musical based on Eve Merriam's "The Inner City Mother Goose", a series of poems dealing with the perils and pleasures of city life.

It will be presented on broadway November 30 at a theater to be announced later.  The show has a book my Miss Merriam and Mr. O'Horgan and songs by Helen Miller and Miss Merriam.  Miss Merriam is a poet and lecturer who has written more than 20 books for young readers.  Mr. O'Horgan is responsible for the staging of Hair, Lenny, and the forthcoming Jesus Christ Superstar.

Between rehearsals of Superstar yesterday, Mr. O'Horgan described Inner City as a "sort of street cantata".

"I hope it's a new form.  It will have a cast of eight performers who will span all ages, races and sexes, and include singers and actors," he said.  "It should be a real cross section of a city, involving all the hassles we're all into."

"What we are trying to do with the musical," he continued, "is not to show just the problems of a city, but also some sense of hope of how we can get it all back together again.  I dislike New York City's being put down and it's very important to get it back to what it was - a favorite American city."

Robin Wagner has been signed to design the musical's scenery.  But Mr. O'Horgan explained that the scenic effects will not be of a grandiose nature.

"It will have some small scenes, monologues and a lot of songs," he said, adding, "if we succeed we will have numerous lightweight mobile units touring as many cities as possible."

Costumes are being created by Joseph Aulisi and the lighting will be arranged by John Dodd.
 
 

Copyright The New York Times Company.  All rights reserved.