A musical about Martin Luther King Jr?

[RicardoMagon]

With all the amazing speeches he gave, the power of the civil rights movement, him meeting Malcolm X.......Wouldn't that make a great show? Has there ever been a musical on MLKjr? I feel like a musical on him would be great.

[icecastle]

There's an opera http://www.idreamopera.com/

But not the same thing. I remember the most recent mainstream film about him had to use paraphrased speeches because the family wouldn't give the rights to the real ones. I think they would need to get the permission of the family.

[Demitri2]

Besides the Douglas Tappin opera, I'm aware of two recordings out there that are listed as original cast recordings. The first is titled "King: A Musical Testimony" and was released in 1990 on CD by the London/Decca label. The composer is Richard Blackford and Maya Angelou is credited with the lyrics based on the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. It stars Simon Estes in the role of King and Cynthia Haymon as his wife Coretta. I haven't listened to it in a while but I recall it featured a full lush orchestra, a chorus and a children's choir. I believe it was to be a concept album at first but then the cast and ensemble agreed to do it as a concert production.

In 1976 a 2 LP gatefold album was released on the Cotillian label titled The " Selma Album" : A Musical Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Don't know too much about it other than 32 sample digital tracks can be heard on Amazon as downloads. In fact both recordings are presently available on Amazon.

Here's a link giving info on The "Selma" Album.

https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Selma-Album/release/1800550

[bdn223]

It also be very difficult to tell an honest musical about him as his estate is very careful to protect his squeaky clean image. Any musical about him would likely have as much depth as The Greatest Showman.

This is not to say he isn’t a great man, but his story is much darker then many like to think.

[ggersten]

There have been several musicals about Martin Luther King - at least my google search says so. I was looking for the Cynthia Haymon London production from 1990 - a very troubled production.  "King"  (Ms. Haymon was my daughter's voice teacher and had a few stories to tell about the production)

But along the way, I found "Martin" by Strouse (?)

and Billy Dee Williams starred in: "I Have A Dream"  On Broadway