The planned 2025 world premiere of the Broadway-aimed Muhammad Ali biomusical Ali has been indefinitely postponed due to scheduling conflicts on the creative team.
“Due to scheduling conflicts in key departments on our team, Ali will not be able to appear in the Broadway in Chicago 2024-2025 season, as scheduled," says lead producer Richard Willis in a statement. “We could not be more grateful to everyone at Broadway in Chicago and the Nederlander Organization. While we won’t premiere Ali in the coming year, we look forward to celebrating Ali’s life in the great city of Chicago where Ali called the South Side home.” Dates for a rescheduled world premiere are to be announced.
The project, in development since at least 2022, is written and directed by Clint Dyer, deputy artistic director of London's National Theatre. The score features music by Teddy Abrams and lyrics by Q-Tip, who also serves as music producer. Rich + Tone Talauega (MJ The Musical) will choreograph.
Muhammad Ali's childhood in Louisville, Kentucky, set the stage for him to become not only the greatest boxer of all time, but also an activist, entertainer, artist, and philanthropist. His combination of courage, confidence, swagger, compassion, humor, and optimism united people during the Civil Rights Movement, and his vision for a world without hate inspired generations of activists.
The Chicago production was to feature set design by Anna Fleischle, costume design by Emilio Sosa, lighting design by Jen Schriever, video design by Tal Yarden and Gino Ricardo Green, and sound design by Benjamin Grant and Kai Harada. Abrams and Sean Mayes are providing orchestrations and arrangements, with Mayes also serving as music supervisor and Casey Benjamin as associate music producer emeritus. Fred Carl is the creative dramaturg, and Michael "Silk" Olajide, Jr. was to be the special boxing consultant and fight coordinator.
Ali is being led by producer Willis, now joined by co-producers Brook T. Smith, David and Michelle Campbell, Ian Rupert, Jim and Kathy Mora, and TheTribecaWorkshop, in collaboration with ABG Entertainment and in partnership with Lonnie Ali.
Broadway in Chicago subscribers will have their Ali tickets automatically transferred to a performance of the national tour of Parade, set to play CIBC Theatre in August 2025.
