Based upon the campaign, audiences are excited to see the show on the Great White Way. With over 300 backers, the Kickstarter campaign easily surpassed its original goal of $40,000. Supporters had the option of pledging $25 to be personally thanked on the www.FabulousSylvester.com web site and receive a Mighty Real magnet to pledging $7,500 or more for a package that included a personal phone call from creators Wayne, Kendrell Bowman, and co-producer Ralph, and an invitation to an exclusive private performance of MIGHTY REAL with the creators, Ralph, and André Leon Talley.

According to the production’s web site, Mighty Real tells the “life story of Sylvester through HIS music and HIS point of view. Beyond all the trials, tribulations, glitz and glamour of his lifestyle, he was a symbol for being FABULOUS, but, also, a symbol for unapologetically being who he was.” In addition to Wayne, the cast includes Anastacia McCleskey as “Izora” and Jacqueline B. Arnold as “Martha,” Sylvester’s equally talented background singers collectively known as “Two Tons of Fun.”

No previews or opening dates have been set, yet. But, you can count on Broadway Black to be the first to let you know.

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Created by and starring Broadway’s Anthony Wayne (Pippin, Anything Goes), and co-directed by Kendrell Bowman this dynamic piece follows the life and music of the “Queen of Disco”, Sylvester (You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), Dance (Disco Heat)).

This piece began in NYC as a series of concerts, followed by a limited run Off-Broadway last fall, and has since exploded in DC, Philadelphia and is a 2015 Off-Broadway Alliance Award nominee.

In the midst of the excitement surrounding this production, one must take a moment and realize the importance of an artist like Sylvester. He did something that was tragically just not done in the 1970’s and 80’s mainstream: live true to himself without shame. It is far too easy in this current social climate to miss the necessary courage it took to live as an out, gay, black man. Not that certain struggles with these adjectives are fully resolved, but the importance of pieces like this lies in the fact that it shows the progression of this struggle. It also stands in the face of challenges facing the black and gay communities today. These challenges, while not new, are in a different light in this- the modern age, as they can be easily brought to the forefront of social consciousness with the advent of immediate connection via social media, Internet news outlets, etc. To put it simply: we are visible in a vast and direct way. Art such as Mighty Real not only celebrates this but honors those like Sylvester who paved the way for this type of visibility.

Broadway Black had the pleasure to speak with the production’s lead producer, Sheryl Lee Ralph, this spring. Click her name for full interview.

Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical will play at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City on Friday July 31. For tickets and more information, visit www.fabuloussylvester.com

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