Richard Willis, lead producer of ALI, the new musical celebrating the life and legacy of the heavyweight boxing champion and humanitarian Muhammad Ali, has announced the World Premiere of ALI will be presented in Ali’s hometown of Louisville, at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, in Fall 2024. Additional members of the creative and design team have also been announced.
Willis said “We are proud to announce these extraordinarily gifted artists joining the ALI creative team. 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. We are also beyond delighted to announce the show’s world premiere will take place in the great city of Louisville, where it all began. It is going to be an incredibly special event for everyone involved, and we hope to bring joy and healing to all Louisvillians, in light of the senseless tragedies over the past week.”
Clint Dyer, ALI director and book writer, added “I am excited and inspired to be aligned with this incredible group of artists, and we are thrilled that a casting search for the role of Muhammad Ali is underway.”
Teddy Abrams said “I am absolutely thrilled that we will be premiering ALI in Louisville, the shared hometown of Muhammad and Lonnie Ali, the Louisville Orchestra, and myself! I am honored to be working alongside the exceptionally talented artists on our creative team and I can’t wait for us to share this production with the world. Muhammad cared deeply for Louisville his entire life, and I know that he would be very happy that we’ll be celebrating his story at the Kentucky Center in the fall of 2024!”
Joining the previously announced director and book writer Clint Dyer (Deputy Artistic Director of the National Theatre; Othello; Olivier Award®-nominated Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical; Death of England/Death of England: Delroy), and composer Teddy Abrams (youngest Musical Director to lead a major American Orchestra, Musical America’s Conductor of the Year Award for 2022), ALI will feature Choreography/Fight Choreography by Rich + Tone Talauega (MJ The Musical), Set Design by Anna Fleischle (Olivier Award® Winner, Tony Award® Nominee – Hangmen, Once Upon a One More Time, Time Traveller’s Wife), Costume Design by Emilio Sosa (Sweeney Todd, 2-time Tony Award® Nominee for Trouble In Mind and The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess), Lighting Design by Jen Schriever (A Strange Loop – Tony Award® Nominee, 1776), Video/Projections/Media Design by Tal Yarden (Network – Tony Award® Nominee, Sunday in the Park with George) and Gino Ricardo Green (Get Up Stand Up, The National Theatre’s Othello), Sound Effects Design by Ben Grant (The National Theatre’s Othello, Get Up Stand Up). The Associate Director is Asmeret Ghebremichael (The Notebook, Dreamgirls), Creative Dramaturge is Fred Carl (Associate Arts Professor in the NYU Tisch Graduate School for Musical Theatre Writing), Special Boxing Consultant and Fight Coordinator is Michael “Silk” Olajide, Jr. (former Middleweight Champion; trained by Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali’s World Champion trainer; Blade to the Heat; Fetch Clay, Make Man), and Casting Director is Jim Carnahan. Additional members of the creative and design teams will be announced soon.
ALI is produced by Richard Willis, Brook T. Smith, David & Michelle Campbell, and TheTribecaWorkshop in collaboration with ABG Entertainment in partnership with Lonnie Ali. In telling Muhammad Ali’s story, ALI will utilize the musical theatre medium to explore the life of the man who overcame tremendous odds to become the G.O.A.T and who used his platform to become one of the most influential and inclusive civil rights leaders the world may ever know.
Deemed “The Greatest of All Time,” Ali was born in 1942 and raised during the early years of television and the American dream. His childhood in Louisville, Kentucky, along with the love and devotion from his mother (and later from his wife Lonnie), set the stage for him to become not only the greatest boxer of all time, as well as an activist, entertainer, artist, and philanthropist. Ali’s combination of courage, confidence, swagger, compassion, humor and optimism united people during The American Civil Rights Movement, and his vision for a world without hate inspired generations of activists who continue to inspire today’s generation.
Casting will be announced soon. For more information, visit thealimusical.com