NEW YORK — Theater audiences will get to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee when a new musical based on Muhammad Ali enters the ring.
“Ali,” based on the life of the late, great boxer and civil rights activist, will have its world premiere at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in his hometown of Louisville in the fall of 2024.
Lead producer Richard Willis announced Tuesday that Clint Dyer will write and direct the production, while Teddy Abrams will compose the music.
Dyer currently serves as the deputy artistic director of London’s National Theatre. Doing double duty as the musical director of the Louisville Orchestra and the Britt Festival Orchestra, Abrams was named Musical America’s 2022 “Conductor of the Year.”
Dyer, whose credits include the Olivier Award-nominated “Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical,” said that a casting search for the role of Ali is currently underway.
Former middleweight champion boxer Michael “Silk” Olajide Jr., who worked on theatrical productions including “Fetch Clay, Make Man” and “Blade to the Heat,” has been tapped to serve as special boxing consultant and fight coordinator.
The musical will feature choreography from Rich and Tone Talauega, who’s previously worked with Madonna, Chris Brown and Jennifer Lopez. Tony Award-nominated “Project Runway’' finalist Emilio Sosa will handle costume design.
“We are proud to announce these extraordinarily gifted artists,” Willis said in a statement Tuesday. “We look forward to the collaboration, as we build the most innovative and entertaining musical possible, in celebration of the great man’s life and legacy.”
“Ali” will be co-produced by ABG Entertainment in partnership with Lonnie Ali, who also serves on the Board of Directors at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville.
“Muhammad has been a muse and continues to be a source of inspiration to so many artists around the world,” Lonnie Ali said in a statement last year. “I’m so proud to support this project and am thrilled to see his story brought to life on the Broadway stage.”
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