The life of the legendary Muhammad Ali will be celebrated with a new Broadway musical.
Producers announced Wednesday that the production, simply titled Ali, is now being developed.
“Muhammad has been a muse and continues to be a source of inspiration to so many artists around the world,” Lonnie Ali, who was married to the iconic athlete for 30 years, said in a statement. “I’m so proud to support this project and am thrilled to see his story brought to life on the Broadway stage.”
After winning a gold medal in boxing at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Ali made history as the only boxer to win the heavyweight championship three different times. In 1999, Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Century.
Muhammad was also a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.
Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, he portrayed himself in the 1977 biopic The Greatest. In 2001, Will Smith starred as the revered boxer in Ali.
After living with from Parkinson’s syndrome, Ali passed away in 2016. He was 74 years old.
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