18 Dec, 2009
‘Fela!’ on Broadway: Moving the masses
Posted by: vincent In: Big Black Hunk| Black Celebrities| Black Men Celebrities| Black Men Videos| Theatre
Note to producers worried about the tough economics of Broadway: If you can’t get a big-name movie star to anchor your show, consider enlisting a groundbreaking choreographer to liven things up.

Featuring a book by Jones and Jim Lewis and the pulsating rhythms and radical lyrics of Fela’s music, the show, which had its world premiere off-Broadway last year, teaches the American musical new moves. And I’m not just referring to what happens onstage. Like the current Broadway revival of “Hair,” directed by Diane Paulus and choreographed by the cutting-edge Karole Armitage, “Fela!” doesn’t permit theatergoers to sit by passively.

Fela 2 A rousing, always in motion Sahr Ngaujah, who alternates in the title role with Kevin Mambo, enjoins the audience to sing and shake their derrieres along with him. A skimpily clad ensemble streams up and down the aisle to bring the musical’s energy directly to us. Differences in age and size are no obstacles as spectators learn to get down West African style: For 2 1/2 bouncy hours, self-consciousness is magically held in abeyance.
This dissident journey isn’t related with anything resembling documentary thoroughness (Fela’s run-ins with the authorities are fuzzily presented and there’s oddly no mention of his death from AIDS-related causes). But the spirit of his fight for justice is made universally resonant, and the fusion of his sound is rapturously celebrated with a pinwheel parade of pelvises.
by Charles McNulty
Credit: Monique Carboni (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
Note to producers worried about the tough economics of Broadway: If you can’t get a big-name movie star to anchor your show, consider enlisting a groundbreaking choreographer to liven things up.
Featuring a book by Jones and Jim Lewis and the pulsating rhythms and radical lyrics of Fela’s music, the show, which had its world premiere [...]




























