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Synopsis Fela! is about the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world o f Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti. Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), Fela! explores Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician. The show is a hybrid of concert, dance and musical theater.
The London transfer of the Tony Award-winning musical Fela! opened to critics at the NT Olivier last night (16 November 2010, previews from 6 November), marking the first time that the National has run a show simultaneously with a Broadway production.
Fela! celebrates Nigerian afrobeat musician and political activist Fela Kuti. It began life with a one month off-Broadway run in 2008 before opening at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre in October 2009, where it continues an open-ended run.
Fronted by Obie Award-winner Sahr Ngaujah in the title role (alternating with Rolan Bell), it features a book by Jim Lewis and additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan Mclean, with direction and choreography by Spring Awakening’s Bill T Jones. Alongside Ngaujah, the principal cast features Paulette Ivory and Melanie Marshall.
"This intermittently startling, vigorously compiled but musically monotonous American import of an Afrobeat concert … comes complete with its original star, the eager but uncharismatic Sahr Ngaujah, a saxophone-dominated onstage blaring band of 12, and co-producing credits for Jay-Z and Will Smith. So, what’s it doing at the National, exactly, apart from drawing a new audience, hopefully, for a couple of months? … Fela relates his politicisation in America by his Black Power girlfriend Sandra (an outstanding Paulette Ivory) and soft-pedals his own horrendous super ego (the show would have been infinitely better if he hadn’t) by puffing sweetly on a big spliff ... The chronology is twisted so that Fela can become stronger after the assault on his compound and enter the spiritual world in search of his mother’s blessing, which is blisteringly delivered as a call to arms by Melanie Marshall from beyond the grave. The show plays its strongest suit in an endless (naturally) parade of coffins … a woolly but also deeply moving finale."
"'Who here has ever been to jail?' asks the eponymous hero of this frenetic musical. It is not a question often asked of National Theatre audiences, but it is indicative of a show that, whatever its flaws, joyfully breaks down conventional barriers between stage and auditorium, and joins passion and politics to the pounding music of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti … But there is much more than headlong celebration … It's a great story, and one told with enormous verve in Bill T Jones' kaleidoscopic production. The dancing is ecstatic, the music lifts the spirits, and the stage is alive with movement … The show boasts an extraordinary performance by Sahr Ngaujah, from the original Broadway cast, as Fela. He sings, dances, plays sax and trumpet, chats easily to the audience and exudes a natural charisma. It is a tour de force. He receives strong support from Melanie Marshall as his mother, Paulette Ivory as the American who turns him on politically and sexually, and from the whole dynamic ensemble. I've never seen a show quite like it at the National.”
Libby Purves The Times ★★★
“The Olivier is impersonating a nightclub in downtown Lagos in 1969: sleazy lighting, projections of political posters and headlines about ‘Political rascality’ … as portrayed by Sahr Ngaujah in this raucous musical, Kuti is a swaggering dandy alpha-male, as fond of marijuana and ‘pussy’ as of rebellion … The show, with a UK cast led by its original Broadway star, comes garlanded with Tony awards and plaudits for its director-choreographer Bill T Jones. It makes Hair look like a Brownies’ Nativity play … But it is more gig than theatre, and a bit frustrating and simplistic. We get no perspective on this hedonist hero: no martyr, he died of Aids in middle age after calling condoms ‘un- African’ … There are high moments: witty choreography of the zombie song mocking politicians, which caught on so much that market-women taunted soldiers with it. There are two utterly beautiful anthems sung by Melanie Marshall as his mother, Funmilayo … The problem dramatically is that Fela alone tells his story, so no perspective is possible … So: bootys well-shaken, critic not quite stirred. But quite a party.”
Quentin Letts The Daily Mail ★★★
"Energetic, vivid, assertive, proudly African: the Royal National's big autumn show, Fela!, is all of these ... To be horribly blunt the production is also over-long, hard to follow in places, and more of a concert than a play. Some of the lyrics are clever but the spoken lines are of minimal interest ... The title character is played with handsome charm by Sahr Ngaujah ... Fela was political, though we are never really given much explanation of his ideas ... We are simply left to gather that he agitated bravely against some of the numerous dictators who ran Nigeria ... That final scene has a procession of small coffins which are brought on to the stage, each box bearing a different name or word: the likes of Victoria Climbie, Stephen Lawrence, Ken Saro Wiwa, Zimbabwe, water, intolerance. A broad argument about worldwide black kinship is mixed up with abstract ideas which have barely been scratched at. Again, maybe the music excuses it ... We will end with that audience participation. Ugh. Is there an honest Englishman who enjoys it? I have never felt anything less than a shrivelling chipolata than when forced to stand in a theatre and 'leave my shy outside!' Must one? Really?"
"The Olivier auditorium has been transformed into a Seventies nightclub... It's the setting for what is essentially a work of hagiography... it focuses fresh attention on the legacy of Fela's political activism, as well as on the sheer excitement of his music ... After not much more than half an hour, we are cajoled into some lissome moves of our own. This isn't a show for anyone squeamish about audience participation ...Fela! is true to the spirit of a man whose life and art were short on compromise ... Sahr Ngaujah, the one performer kept from Broadway, brings a wired intensity. He's abrasively charismatic, yet at times seductive and soulful. He is well supported by Paulette Ivory and Melanie Marshall. But it's the ensemble that lives in the memory, thanks to Jones's astonishingly tight choreography ... Some of (Fela's) statements were un-palatable. For instance, he condemned the use of condoms as un-African ... While musically impressive, the production could do with a stronger book. The story is flimsy and confused, and there's a lack of narrative drive. With proceedings dominated by one character, we get little perspective on his real qualities and deficiencies. Weaknesses notwithstanding, it feels like a bold new direction for musical theatre."
"For much of its length I just sat there like Eeyore, despondently thinking it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Kuti’s Afrobeat music... is undoubtedly uplifting and hypnotic, even if many of the songs sound remarkably similar and tend to outstay their welcome. And Kuti’s life story is fascinating ... Sahr Ngaujah... exudes slinky-hipped charisma, fierce political anger and sharp wit while displaying his impressive bare-chested physique ... He goads and teases the spectators with panache, storms off the stage when he doesn’t think we are responding enthusiastically enough, and has everyone up on their feet and dancing within the first half-hour ... Great moments are followed by long passages when nothing much seems to be happening ... Though in many ways the show is impeccably politically correct, Kuti’s cavalier attitude to women and refusal to use condoms (he eventually died of Aids) is completely ducked. There is however no doubt that the show offers a dazzling eyeful, with spectacular designs by Marina Draghici. The music, superbly played by an onstage band, is often thrilling ... Yet none of this quite persuaded me that the show was much more than a bog-standard jukebox musical, albeit one performed with exceptional panache."
Following triumphant runs on Broadway and at the National Theatre, Fela!, the musical which tells the story of the life of the afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, has come to Sadler’s Wells for what is sure to be an electrifying few weeks.
Sahr Ngaujah is wonderful in the title role, his seemingly boundless energy – both with the cast and when interacting with the audience – driving the show forwards. Ngaujah captures the charisma that brought the musician and activist such adoration and respect in the turbulent Nigeria of the 1970s.
The show’s conceit – a final concert by Kuti and his band at The Shrine in Lagos – works beautifully as a framing device, even if the moments where the music drops and Kuti is left to philosophise over his future choices appear low-energy in comparison with the rousing dance numbers. This contrast is far more successfully handled in the scene in which the musician’s compound undergoes a devastating attack by Nigerian government forces. This is the episode at the heart of the story and the stillness of the dancers compared with their previous vitality, alongside some sensitively presented projections, makes for very affecting storytelling.
It is to the credit of director and choreographer Bill T Jones that the show does not shy away from the challenging aspects of Kuti’s story. It would have been easy to make Fela! a purely joyful concert show, but brave choices have been made and the piece is the stronger for it, offering lows as well as highs to paint a picture of a life and a time with plenty for us to learn from.
This intermittently startling, vigorously compiled but musically monotonous American import of an Afrobeat concert - the original off-Broadway show opened in 2008 and has played on Broadway for just over a year - comes complete with its original star, the eager but uncharismatic Sahr Ngaujah, a saxophone-dominated onstage blaring band of 12, and co-producing credits for Jay-Z and Will Smith.
So, what’s it doing at the National, exactly, apart from drawing a new audience, hopefully, for a couple of months? The story of Nigerian musician, hedonist and self-styled radical Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is haphazardly told, mostly in first person narration, in an Olivier auditorium packed to the max with posters, slogans, projected song lyrics and historical film footage, some of it genuinely disturbing when the military storm Fela’s compound and throw his mother out the window.
First, Fela welcomes us to his club, the Shrine, in Lagos, announcing his final concert. A slow start elides into an explanation of Afrobeat’s roots: in drumming, jazz, Cuban sounds and James Brown funk. Having put it all together, Fela invites the audience to stand up and dance “the clock” - going round and round, swivelling on their hips and pelvises.
Fela relates his politicisation in America by his Black Power girlfriend Sandra (an outstanding Paulette Ivory) and soft-pedals his own horrendous super ego (the show would have been infinitely better if he hadn’t) by puffing sweetly on a big spliff; leading a pre-post-show audience Q and A on criminal records; and introducing his harem (in truth, he married 27 women on the same day and died of AIDS in 1997) of nine wonderfully exotic and sexy dancing “Queens”, easily the most enjoyable element in Bill T Jones’ full-on, indiscriminate production.
The chronology is twisted so that Fela can become stronger after the assault on his compound and enter the spiritual world in search of his mother’s blessing, which is blisteringly delivered as a call to arms by Melanie Marshall from beyond the grave. The show plays its strongest suit in an endless (naturally) parade of coffins including those of the murdered activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, an unidentified great grandma, Doubt, Fear, and that despised old soldier, General Well-Being, a woolly but also deeply moving finale.
Frank Loesser once wrote a charming musical called The Most Happy Fella; this show’s hero is a most unhappy Fela, though you could easily imagine him “standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by” …until he pounced, preached, got down and got busy. Groovy, baby? Maybe.
Slow, repetitive, boring. Easily one of the poorest show I have ever seen at Sadler's - Mateo
01 Aug 11
We really enjoyed this and, from reading the comments here it strikes me that musical theatre fans are rather too conservative. This is something different and refreshing after all those Sondheim and Lloyd Webber clone musicals that we've seen in recent years. Ignore the negative comments, go with an open mind and you'll find a refreshingly different show with excellent choreography, singing, musicianship and lighting. My partner is a Classic FM fan and even he was wiggling his butt in the aisle! - Diane
16 Jan 11
After thirty five minutes of arse wiggling and repetitive pelvic thrusts, to what seemed the same tune, a golden opportunity arose. Fela, played by the alternate Fela, Rolan Bell, told us all to stand....and with that we ran! OK so this can't be a fair appraisal as we missed the other TWO bloody hours, but I had seen enough by then and looking now at the comments on WOS I'm thankful I did. I look forward to the day when we get modern dramas, and musicals, that aren't hitched to some stereotypical image of blacks? Come get writing! - rds
05 Jan 11
Well, I’ve been to the Olivier Theatre many times over the last 30 years, but it’s never felt like this. Designer Marina Draghici has done a great job bringing to it the essence of Fela’s Nigerian nightclub with giant banners & projections, corrugated iron and above all colour. You could hear the sound of the extraordinary band before you entered the theatre and when you did, the stage was full of dancers. Fela’s story is a fascinating one, but its told here as a biographical monologue inside an afrobeat concert. There is really only one character, and that’s the crux of the problem with the show. You learn more about Fela’s life reading the programme and the show just adds the music and dancing – wonderful music and dancing (though in truth it does become a bit monotonous), but music and dancing alone don’t make a fully formed musical. Sahr Ngaujah’s performance as Fela is mesmerizing, so much so that the talented supporting cast hardly get a look in. The band is absolutely brilliant, helped by Robert Kaplowitz perfect sound design. There’s much to enjoy and it’s more than a jukebox musical, but there isn’t enough characterisation or narrative depth for a piece of musical theatre. Go for the music, colour and the energy of it all.
It doesn’t really need the NT – it could easily survive in the commercial sector – and the NT doesn’t need it – though this clearly does bring in a new audience, the NT has done much to bring in this audience before. It’s not the first time the Olivier stage has been full of black talent in recent years – Emperor Jones, Death & The Kings Horsemen and Welcome to Thebes. I think their resources would be better used nurturing and showcasing new British musical theatre, which they haven’t done since Jerry Springer – The Opera.
- Gareth James
06 Dec 10
So Bill T JOnes is a fantastic choreographer, and for me, the only draw to this production. I don't really care for Fella's music, or rather, i don't really see why he was so important to the development of black music in the 70's/80's. The music is something that i that perpetually plays in stoned students houses, and actually has that effect on you. The first half (an excruciating hour and a half) is engineered to make you feel like you've toked on the largest amount of weed you could possibly imagine. The repetitive music, the hypnotic dancing and the general lazy tone are all indicative of this. The second half like an adrenaline rush/wake up call. Clever as that is, it cant disguise the fact that the show is about a petulant idiot who enslaved, married and infected countless women with HIV. However this goes unmentioned and the brutality of the African regime is what Fella was actually fighting against. It's hopelessly one sided, and even Ugandan friends of mine looked confused when we told them there was a music theatre piece about his life. 'Why?' was there question. Why indeed, i have no answres other than desparation to find another black role model. Aren't there more interesting people than this?
THis is a VERY long show and not what i expected (the reviews make it sound like it sparkles like a jem in the rough of other shows) when in fact, it's very slow and verges (hilariously) on campery in the 'UV dream sequence'. Panto-HO!!
I understand why the national did this, because it would last 3 seconds in the west end, and Bill T is great. However this is a production that shows off the talents of the artists, not the subject matter. I'll be glad when it's gone.
- Cassox
01 Dec 10
The set and atmosphere was fantastic. They had the African band playing on stage as people took their seats. However I became hugely frustrated when the show didn't kick off on time with no explanations given. In fact 15 minutes late starting as people casually walked in well after advertised curtain up time without a care in the world.
I found the show pretty juvenile in script and hardly intelligible (there is a screen where the words come up - an acknowledgement of my point indeed - but you can't see it if you're at the back of the circle). And the music and songs quickly becomes repetitive. The final nail in the coffin for me was the audience participation whereby everyone was ordered to take to their feet to learn how to do an African dance which seemed to go on for ages. This was more akin to the evening entertainment in a Butlins holiday centre - nothing like a the expected quality production I'd expect in one of the capital cities biggest theatres.
Sorry, Fela was a stinker and I'd only give it one star for the colourful set.
- James - Kent
29 Nov 10
Have not seen this one but just back from New York and saw it there with Patti LaBelle in the cast. I found it far too long and a bit boring and the music was too repetitive. - Joe
24 Nov 10
Who thought this was a good idea? Enforced fun and a boring, simplistic, lecture interspersed with some good music and dancing. Suitable only for the 'Jerry Springer' crowd it drew in NY. - Joesmith
24 Nov 10
The Olivier looks amazing and the show starts off dynamically with an amazing central performance and funky dancing and choreography. However, this hagiography outstays its welcome in never really exploring the character of Fela, and sidesteps the more unpleasant aspects of his sexual politics. - Lostmarples
21 Nov 10
Saw this on the first night preview with very over excited production staff sitting behind us whooping along and trying hard to get the audience in the mood. Unfortunately we found this production rather boring with very repetitive music, too loud and far too long, although there were some interesting moments. Unless you really are a fan of Aro-beat I would not recommend this and I would not see it again even if I was offered a free ticket. - ils
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