November 23, 2009

Broadway review: Feeling the funky 'Fela!' sound

NewYorkology contributor Alexandra Farkas last year directed the New York premiere of John Fleming’s “The Two Lives of Napoleon Beazley” at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center is back as NewYorkology’s theater critic after a hiatus to give birth to a beautiful baby girl.

It turns out that whether you know anything about Fela Anikulapo Kuti is not important. What is important is that you be ready to see one of the most exciting performances on Broadway right now.

If not knowing who Fela was is a stumbling block for you, the short version is that he was a Nigerian-born international musical pioneer and political activist in 1970s who is widely considered one of the founders of afrobeat and funk music. But everything you need to know about him, you will learn during the sensuous, wild ride that is “Fela!” at the Eugene O’Neill Theater.

There’s a reason Fela is a musical legend, but what is less clear is why his dancers weren’t the reigning queens of the ’70s era. If you are old enough to remember the “Soul Train” dancers and you were unaware of Fela’s stage shows, you’ll be happy that Bill T. Jones has brought their amazing moves to Broadway. The “Soul Train” dancers had nothing on Fela’s girls. Jones, a highly-regarded choreographer (and MacArthur Genius grant recipient, if you’re in to that kind of thing), is better known for modern dance and ballet and first worked on Broadway with “Spring Awakening,” a rock ‘n roll, but still quite formal, show for which he won a 2007 Tony for best choreography. This musical is all his own and the combination of music, movement and staging is inspired.

Though the story is largely an autobiographical monologue told by the actor playing Fela (the exceptional Sahr Ngaujah and Kevin Mambo alternate,) this is very much an ensemble with a cast of awe-inspiring dancers and an onstage band including several members of the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra.

If you can make it through the first act without being seized with the desire to learn to move the way everyone on stage does, you should check your pulse. The cast is large and presumably rotate frequently, because performing must be akin to running a marathon every night. They barely stop moving for close to three hours.

For all its high points, the show is not without its problems. In general, the second act is difficult and appears to suffer from the difficulty of bringing the concert-like format in line with aspects of Fela’s story that require more traditional dialogue.

Lillias White, a grand dame of the Broadway stage, plays Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Fela’s mother. The casting choice seems odd because the role is more symbolic than actual, except for one big song in the second act that is out of synch with the rest of production. While it’s beautifully performed, it’s too long and both the song and staging make it difficult to understand what’s happening.

Finally, throughout the show there are allusions to recent occurrences of injustice that feel forced and out of place since they took place after Fela’s 1997 death. Although Fela was a political rabble-rouser and suffered dearly for his outspokenness, it’s not entirely clear how putting “Halliburton” or “Sean Bell” on set pieces adds to his story.

But don’t let these challenges prevent you from going to see “Fela!” It is an ambitious show and you’ll be talking about it for a long time afterward.

November 23, 2009 11:20 PM in Broadway

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