ALI, a New Musical About Muhammad Ali, in Development for Broadway

ALI, a new musical celebrating the life and legacy of the heavyweight boxing champion and humanitarian Muhammad Ali is being developed for Broadway.

ALI will be directed and written by Clint Dyer (Deputy Artistic Director of The National Theatre, Olivier Award-nominated Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical, Death of England/Death of England: Delroy), with music by Teddy Abrams (youngest Musical Director to lead a major American Orchestra, Musical America's Conductor of the Year Award for 2022).

ALI will be produced by Richard Willis, Brook T. Smith 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.

"Muhammad has been a muse and continues to be a source of inspiration to so many artists around the world," said Lonnie Ali. "I'm so proud to support this project and am thrilled to see his story brought to life on the Broadway stage."

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 continues to inspire today's generation.

"Over the course of his life, Muhammad fought for justice and humanity, and all along the way he disarmed the world with his humor, generosity, and gentle ways. We are thrilled to partner with the incredibly talented Richard Willis, Brook T. Smith and TheTribecaWorkshop to bring Ali's story to Broadway," said Dana Carpenter, EVP, ABG Entertainment.

Richard Willis said "It is very humbling, being granted this opportunity to tell Muhammad Ali's complex and incredibly powerful story on stage with two of the most gifted artists working today, Clint Dyer and Teddy Abrams, and we look forward to announcing our additional world-class creative team members soon. Ali's examples of grace, passion, strength of spirit, cool under fire and smiling through it all, has been a great model for millions to aspire to live by, myself included. We are excited to honor Ali's life and legacy theatrically; it makes for an extraordinarily entertaining and impactful new musical for the world to enjoy."

Clint Dyer added "This can only be described as a dream come true for me. The chance to articulate in this medium what he represents to me, and millions across the world, is thrilling."

Teddy Abrams said "I began exploring Ali's life in 2016 when I wrote a multimedia rap-oratorio about his life. In that process, I recognized that Ali's journey from fighter to humanitarian reflected the personal and global conflicts and contradictions of the human condition, and through his lens I better understood persistent and fundamental issues, and the continued need to strive for peace and equality. Ali deserves the epic, dramatic treatment of a full-scale musical, enshrining his legend and teachings for his fans as well as new generations to come. I am thrilled and honored to work with such an exceptional, world-class team to create this new work!"

ALI will play a US pre-Broadway engagement (details to be announced).

Casting and additional creative team members will be announced soon. For more information, visit thealimusical.com

Clint Dyer

(Writer/Director/Actor) was appointed as Deputy Artistic Director of The National Theatre in 2021. Clint directed the Olivier, Evening Standard, and WhatsOnStage-nominated show The Big Life at Theatre Royal Stratford East, bringing it to the Apollo Theatre, the first Black British musical to go the West End. He went on to write and direct Sylvia Plath and direct the award-winning The Westbridge at the Royal Court. He directed Roy Williams's hit play Kingston 14 at Theatre Royal Stratford-East, wrote Starter Motor for the BBC's "Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle" monologues, and wrote and co-directed with Simon McBurney The Happy Tragedy of Being Woke for Complicité. Clint reopened The National Theatre in 2020 with Death of England: Delroy, which he directed and co-wrote with Roy Williams, the sequel to the celebrated Death of England. This made Clint the first Black artist to act, write and direct at The National Theatre. The third installment, Death of England: Face to Face, a feature-length film, which again he directed and co-wrote with Roy Williams, premiered on Sky TV. Filmed on The National Theatre's Lyttleton stage, it has been nominated for Best Single Drama at the BAFTA TV awards, Royal Television Society Awards and Broadcast Digital Media Awards. Clint recently directed the new musical celebrating the life and music of Bob Marley, Get Up, Stand Up! which opened at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End in October 2021. It received 10 WhatsOnStage Award nominations and four 2022 Olivier Award nominations including Best New Musical. He starred on stage in The National Theatre's Oliver-winning production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, directed by Dominic Cooke, for which he won best actor in the I.A.R. Awards. Over the course his extensive acting career he has won awards across film and television also, most notably for his starring role in the film SUS. Clint will direct the upcoming production of Shakespeare's Othello in the Lyttelton Theatre (opens November 23, 2022), the first time a Black man has staged the play at The National Theatre.

Teddy Abrams

(Composer). An unusually versatile musician, Teddy Abrams is the widely acclaimed Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra and won Musical America's prestigious Conductor of the Year Award for 2022. Now in his ninth season as Music Director, Teddy has fostered interdisciplinary collaborations with the Louisville Ballet and Speed Art Museum and led Louisville's cultural response to the pandemic with the Lift Up Lou initiative. Among other works, the 2021-22 season includes the world premieres of Teddy's new piano concerto written for Yuja Wang and a concerto for timba band and orchestra composed by Grammy winner Dafnis Prieto. His rap-opera, The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, premiered in 2017, celebrating Louisville's hometown hero with an all-star cast that included Rhiannon Giddens and Jubilant Sykes, as well as Jecorey "1200" Arthur, with whom he started the Louisville Orchestra Rap School. Teddy Abrams has been Music Director and Conductor of the Britt Festival Orchestra since 2013, where, in addition to an annual three-week festival of concerts, he has taken the orchestra across the region in the creation of new work-including Michael Gordon's Natural History, which was premiered on the edge of Crater Lake National Park in partnership with the National Parks Service, and was the subject of the PBS documentary "Symphony for Nature;" and Pulitzer Prize-winning-composer Caroline Shaw's Brush, an experiential work performed this summer on the Jacksonville Woodlands Trail system. Abrams recently collaborated with Jim James, vocalist and guitarist for My Morning Jacket, on the song cycle The Order of Nature, which they premiered with the Louisville Orchestra in 2018 and recorded on Decca Gold. They performed the work with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in 2019. Teddy Abrams records on Universal Music Group's Decca Gold Label. In addition to The Order of Nature, Teddy and the Louisville Orchestra recorded All In in 2017 with vocalist Storm Large. Teddy's most recent recording was an original track, "Fourth Mode," as part of UMG's World Sleep Day. https://www.teddyabrams.com/

Richard Willis

(Producer) is a Tony Award-winner and five-time nominee, as well as an Ovation Award winner (Best Play Large Theatre) and was the recipient of the NAACP Award for Best Producer (Equity) in partnership with The Pasadena Playhouse. Some of his more notable shows include: Lanford Wilson's Burn This; Jerusalem; War Horse; One Man, Two Guvnors; Next Fall; 33 Variations; Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys; Howard Davies' production of Noel Coward's Hay Fever (additionally celebrated for being the first Noel Coward Play ever produced at the Noel Coward Theatre); Priscilla Queen of the Desert; Souvenir; Golda's Balcony; Eve Ensler's The Good Body; Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam and more. Richard was the Founder and visionary of the "Westside Arts Complex," built, programmed and operated by him, his business partner (the late Marty Markinson) and their team under the banner RICHMARK Entertainment in Brentwood, CA. The Westside Arts Complex consisted of The Wadsworth Theatre, The Brentwood Theatre, The Great Lawn and more, located at The Department of Veterans' Affairs' Campus from 1999-2016.

Brook T. Smith

(Producer) is a successful businessman and philanthropist who was born, raised and resides in Louisville, KY. After growing up in Louisville and graduating from Clemson University, Brook returned to the Bluegrass to build a successful business career, leading his agency, Smith Manus, to become one of the nation's top performing brokers in surety bonds. In 2014, Smith Manus was an early acquisition of global fintech leader Acrisure, who continues to be the fastest growing and most profitable brokerage in industry history. Smith, with partners, also founded the Lexon Insurance Group, a surety underwriter that grew into a top 10 U.S. surety before selling to Japanese conglomerate Sompo in 2018. Through private investing, Brook's RSLP Ventures is funding visionaries across numerous industries who are socially and environmentally minded. Brook's love for business is only rivaled by his deep respect and admiration for those who are working to help others - he supports a multitude of non-profits and co-created the Appalachian Impact Fund.

TheTribecaWorkshop

(Producer), led by Richard Willis, joins together artists and their supporters to develop and produce new and newly re-imagined plays and musicals for Broadway and the West End.

Richard Willis is represented by Stefan Schick at Loeb & Loeb LLP and Susan Mindell at Levine Plotkin & Menin LLP.

Clint Dyer is represented by Kate Buckley and Cathy King at 42 Management.

Teddy Abrams is represented by Matthew Oberstein at Opus 3 Artists.

About Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is one of the most influential athletes and humanitarians of the 20th century and has created some of the most legendary moments in sports and civil rights history. More than 50 years after he emerged as a Gold Medalist in Boxing at the 1960 Rome Olympics, Ali's legacy extends beyond the ring, and he continues to be widely recognized as one of the most celebrated and beloved icons of all time.

His incomparable work ethic, signature boxing techniques, and fearlessness towards standing up for his beliefs, all contribute to the legend that is Muhammad Ali. Among his countless awards and accolades, he was named Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Century," GQ's "Athlete of the Century," a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Amnesty International Lifetime Achievement Award. Muhammad Ali's legacy is celebrated across cultures and continues to inspire today's most influential athletes, artists, musicians and humanitarians around the world.

For more information visit: thealimusical.com/