Workshop concert performance of I DREAM to play The Other Palace

A workshop of new musical I DREAM will receive its UK premiere at The Other Palace on 27 April, it has been announced.

I DREAM follows civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy at the end of his life as he reflects on his lifelong friendship and memories with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., all set against a contemporary score rooted in gospel and soul.

The I DREAM book, music and lyrics are by Douglas Tappin, with additional writing by Jonathan Payne. The workshop will be directed by Annabel Mutale Reed, with music direction by Keith Williams and casting by Heather Basten CDG CSA. Cast and further creative team are to be announced soon.

I DREAM premiered in Atlanta in 2010, on the Alliance Stage, directed by Jasmine Guy. A concert version of the musical was performed in 2017 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. The musical was performed as an opera between 2017 and 2021, before further musical and concert presentations in the USA, including at NYC’s Apollo Theatere. This workshop marks the first presentation of the work to UK audiences.

As civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy slips away from this life, his lifelong friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rises into sharp and haunting focus. Memories collide as Ralph is pulled back into the rallies, jails, and private moments where their partnership was forged and tested. A sharp young voice of conscience from within challenges him to face the rivalries and regrets he has long tried to bury.

I DREAM brings the civil rights movement’s inner circle to the stage and reveals the personal stakes behind the public history. The musical offers an intimate look at the friendship at the heart of the movement, and what it truly cost to dream of a better world.

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