April 4 would have marked Maya Angelou’s 91st birthday. There is no question that Angelou lived a vibrant life and wore many hats: actress, author, dancer, poet and several more Angelou was a renaissance woman to the highest power. Now, the life of the I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings author is being immortalized on Broadway, almost five years after her passing.
With the backing of her son, Guy Johnson, Phenomenal Woman: An Evening With Maya Angelou, a one-woman stage play, is under development for Broadway. Per Deadline, the play is being produced by David Michael Rich and J. Todd Harris. The play will draw inspiration from Angelou’s prolific life and works. It will also include never-before-seen private moments from Angelou’s life.
“My mother lived an extraordinary life,” Johnson said in a statement. “She brought a sense of passion to living and invested herself wholly in it. What she wanted most was justice for all human beings, and the freedom to experience joy and laughter. We hope to capture her joie de vivre. We’re going to include some private anecdotes that will be a revelation to audiences. I’m pleased to be working with this team in bringing her story to life and can’t wait for the public to experience it.”
Phenomenal Woman: An Evening With Maya Angelou is being developed with the intent to premiere on Broadway in 2021. Born Marguerite Annie Johnson in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, Angelou created over several autobiographies, poems and novels over the course of her six-decade career. She recited her iconic poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Angelou died on May 28, 2014 at the age of 86 in North Carolina.
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