Keke Palmer revealed that she is “hoping” to come to Broadway later this year in a production of Fetch Clay, Make Man. During her recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, she revealed that she is working with Debbie Allen on the production.
“I love doing Broadway and I’m hoping to do a show at the end of the year,” she gushed. “Shoutout to Debbie Allen, we’re working on something together. She had done a show about Stepin Fetchit and Muhammad Ali … so I would be in that, playing Sonji, Muhammad Ali’s first wife.”
Debbie Allen previously directed a production of Fetch Clay, Make Man with Center Theatre Group in 2023 the Kirk Douglas Theatre.
Palmer went on to reveal that, while this is a play and not a musical, she would love to do both.
Check out the clip below!
About the Play
In the days leading up to one of his most anticipated fights, heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay) forms an unlikely friendship with the controversial Hollywood star Stepin Fetchit (born Lincoln Perry). With a rhythmic and enticing script by award-winning performer and playwright Will Power, “Fetch Clay, Make Man” explores the improbable bond that forms between two drastically different and immensely influential cultural icons.
One a vibrant and audacious youth, the other a resentful and widely resented relic – each fighting to form their public personas and shape their legacies amidst the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1960s. This true story is as powerful and poetic as Ali himself while also humorous and irreverent like Fetchit’s signature act. Finding commonality in contradiction, “Fetch Clay, Make Man” examines the true meaning of strength, resilience, and pride.
Fetch Clay, Make Man was in development for 3 years prior to its opening in 2010 at the McCarter Theater Center. Then in 2013 it had its New York premiere at New York Theatre Workshop. Both premiers were directed by Des McAnuff, and included costume designs by Paul Tazewell. In June 2023 Fetch Clay, Make Man had its Los Angeles premiere at Center Theater group in a new production co-produced by Springhill, and directed by Debbie Allen. Over the years Fetch Clay, Make Man has had a number of actors in its casts, including Sonequa Martin-Green, Ben Vereen, K. Todd Freeman, Nikki M. James, Ray Fisher, Danielle Deadwyler, Alexis Floyd, John Earl Jelks, and Edwin Lee Gibson.
