For He's a Jolly Good Fela

I admit, I did not know much about the life of Fela Kuti before seeing Fela! -- the new Off-Broadway show brought to us by Bill T. Jones, the man behind Broadway hit Spring Awakenings. Being vaguely familiar, at best, with Kuti's life left me able to sit back and experience this portrayal of the famous musician/activist as less of a musical but more of a history lesson.

First of all, the music. Unlike any other show I have been to, this was like going to a concert. A concert with the master of ceremony being Fela Kuti (played by an amazing Sahr Ngaujah), delighting the crowd with a night of Afrobeat sounds intermittent between stories about his life. One of the highlights of the evening includes a group dance number -- when I say "group" I mean the entire audience, so wear your dancing shoes if you plan to attend -- as Ngaujah leads the call for pelvic thrusts based upon the "time of day." In other words, if he calls for a twelve o'clock - six o'clock, that would mean a forward thrust followed by a backwards thrust.

The story starts in Fela's early life growing up in Nigeria. His first contact with the outside world comes in the form of colonial Britons who, Fella notes, seem to take quite a bit: ashtrays, petroleum, certain outspoken people... yet, he asks what, in return, did they receive? Gonorrhea and Jesus. This early history shapes Fela's life in the future.

What follows is a look at this amazing man's journey and the tribulations he faced, while set to the backdrop of some of the downright best music that had the entire audience engaged. Fela! is practically a one man show, even though there are often over twenty people on the stage. I in no way mean that is a disparaging way to the rest of the cast, their work is fantastic but this show belongs to Ngaujah. After a barn-busting first half, Fela! drags at times after the intermission. Also, a few scenes that he shares with the ghost of his mother could use some tightening, but the music is too powerful not to resonate in, what becomes, a very lively finale.

Fela! A New Musical is playing Off Broadway at 37 Arts. For readers of this blog, purchase $25 tickets here and enter code Social 1.