"Little Girl Blue," which had an early performance in southeastern Connecticut followed by a run at The Goodspeed in East Haddam last year, is heading Off-Broadway.

This musical inspired by Nina Simone's life will open Monday at the Shubert Organization's New World Stages.

Laiona Michelle, who wrote the piece, will once again star as iconic singer/songwriter/musician/civil rights activist Simone.

The company's original cast and director are also returning in this version, including director Devanand Janki and musicians Kenneth Salters, Saadi Zain and Mark Fifer (Fifer doubles as the production's music director and arranger).

Janki is founder and artistic director of Live & In Color in Salem; formerly called the Bingham Camp Theatre Retreat, it develops new work for the stage that promotes and celebrates diversity.

Michelle was performing in the musical "Family Resemblance" at the Bingham Camp in 2016 when she mentioned to Janki that she was working on a play about Simone. Janki thought it was a great idea and said he and Fifer would love to collaborate with her on it.

Michelle did an early version of "Little Girl Blue" as a benefit concert for the Bingham Camp Theatre Retreat in 2017 at the Leif Nilsson Gallery in Chester.

The group continued to develop the show, and in 2019, it had a sold-out run at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J., and then enjoyed its successful run at Goodspeed in the summer of 2021.

Performances of "Little Girl Blue" at New World Stages in New York City are 7 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays.

Tickets are $49-$99. A student lottery will be announced later. Tickets are sold via Telecharge. For more on the production, visit www.littlegirlblue.nyc.