IN A MUSICAL, THE STORY ON THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SINGER/ACTOR HARRY BELAFONTE,91, HEADS TO BROADWAY!

Harry Belafonte

The story of the life of American singer, actor and social activist Harry Belafonte, whose mother was of Jamaican descent, could soon be heading to the New York stage.

According to reports, producer Ken Davenport has obtained Broadway stage rights to a musical framed around the life and times of the Grammy-winning music icon and Tony-winning actor.

“The live theater opened up so many worlds for me as a young man,” said Belafonte in a statement. “From the moment I saw professional actors on stage, I knew I could find a way forward in life as a performer and as an activist. With humility, it brings me great joy that my story will now become a stage production that I hope will inspire audiences to follow their own dreams.”

Last year Belafonte was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Merit for outstanding contribution in the field of music. The announcement was made on August 6, however he was unable to attend the presentation ceremony at King’s House on National Heroes’ Day, October 15, due to ill health. He had previously been conferred with the Order of Jamaica.

Belafonte is the recipient of three Grammy Awards, an Emmy, a special Oscar, and a Tony for his performance in John Murray Anderson’s Almanac. His other Broadway credits include 3 for Tonight, Moonbirds, Asinamali! and Belafonte at the Palace. On screen his body of work includes Bright Road, Otto Preminger’s hit musical Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun, Odds Against Tomorrow, The World, the Flesh and the Devil, Buck and the Preacher and Uptown Saturday Night. His most recent screen appearance came last year in Spike Lee’s Oscar-nominated BlacKkKlansman, where he played an elderly civil rights pioneer.

Belafonte was an early supporter of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and one of Martin Luther King Jr’s confidants. Throughout his career he has been an advocate for political and humanitarian causes, such as the Anti-Apartheid Movement and USA for Africa. Since 1987 he has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.Sponsored Links