Sunday, April 18, 2010

They say the neon lights are bright On Broadway

Fela Kuti (15 October 1938–2 August 1997), was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick. If you've never heard of him or afrobeat music, I urge you to read the Wikipedia entry about him.

I'm not being compensated in any way to write this review. I just want to share my enthusiam for the arts in general and encourage others to enjoy this Broadway production I had the pleasure of experiencing called FELA! I use the word experience because I did more than watch this production. The lead in the show speaks directly to the  audience members and you feel as if your have time traveled to Fela's last performance at the "Shrine". The music is infectious and dancing is unavoidable. "Fela" even made the audience get out of their seats for some dance lessons in the aisles. The set design permeates the entire Eugene O'Neill Theater. You sit amidst the props and grafitti art covered walls. The show is full of multi-media enhancements and a feast for the senses. I got in trouble for snapping this photo with my phone.


The cast of this production seems to be in overdrive the whole performance and have amazing stamina. I don't know how they can physically do 2 performances in a day on the weekend. I saw the Sunday matinee. SO if you are in or planning to visit New York by September of this year (production travels to London in the fall) do yourself a favor and see this show! (Some adult subject matter so this is not a "family show")




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