Review Fix Exclusive: Femi Olagoke Talks ‘Tyson vs. Ali’

Review Fix chats with actor Femi Olagoke about his performance in Reid Farrington’s “Tyson vs. Ali,” a gripping new production that brings the long thought about dream bout to the stage.

Review Fix: How did you feel the first time you read the script?

Femi Olagoke: It was a non traditional process in getting the script for this show. We had been training for months, gathering material and watching videos before it was put together by Frank Boudreaux. It was a collaborative process involving all the performers, director and writer. When the script was finalized, it was exciting to see the different layers it had. When Reid and Frank approached me about doing the project I was intrigued by the concept and extremely intimidated. I knew as a performer I was going to be challenged in a way I’d never been before and that scared me which in turn made me want to do it right away. I always use fear as my determining factor when choosing a project.

Review Fix: How did you prepare for the role?

Olagoke: We all trained at Gleason’s gym in Brooklyn and learnt how to box and fight. I learnt everything from the basics of boxing including your stance, footwork, throwing jabs, punches, combinations and conditioning. We spent 2 months training rigorously in the gym learning how to move and fight like Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali. Outside the boxing training, I incorporated weight training, yoga, calisthenics and dance. Added to that was learning how speak  and act like these two men studying lots of video footage and interviews.

Review Fix: What was it like to work with Reid Farrington?

Olagoke: It’s great working with Reid because he is a master at what he does and it was very detailed but an enjoyable experience! He brings out the best of people he works with and always gives great feedback and I love how passionate he is with his work.

Review Fix: For someone who hasn’t seen the show, how would you describe the multimedia aspect?

Olagoke: I think it’s very exciting to watch and gives the audience a new way of experiencing theater. It all ties in with the story that is being told and I believe it’s an innovative and refreshing way of doing theater.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite part of the production? Why?

Olagoke: With this production, I got the opportunity to do all the things I dreamt of doing as an actor due to the large number of elements involved in the show. Performing live and on film, I got to play different characters, be an athlete, play two iconic figures, be funny, emotional, dance and fortunate enough to be telling the story of these two great men while being very precise with everything!

Review Fix: How do you want your performance to be remembered?

Olagoke: My hope is that it is remembered as being honest, sincere and true to who these men are.

Photo by Paula Court

For more information on the show, visit www.3ldnyc.org.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14229 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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