Michael Riedel of the New York Post is reporting today that the Off-Broadway musical Fela will begin performances at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theater in September, toward an October opening.
It seems that there are some pretty glitzy producers coming on-board, including Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Alicia Keys. Rumor has it that Denzel Washington and Will Smith might even be writing checks.
Riedel contends that the show, during its one-month run at 37 Arts, had critics practically "dancing in the aisles." They must have seen a different show from the one I saw. The Fela that I witnessed last fall was fervent but flawed: a would-be celebration of the life and music of Nigerian recording artist and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti, but rather inert as far as musical theater goes. (Read my review here) The dynamic Sahr Ngaujah was simply electric (and sexy as hell) in the title role, and apparently he will repeat this role on Broadway. But the show itself was one long monologue, with a few effective sequences, but more that were shrill and off-putting.
Other than Ngaujah's torso...er, performance, the main attraction with Fela was the ebullient choreography from Bill T. Jones (Spring Awakening), who also directs, and shares librettist duties with Jim Lewis (Dangerous Games, Chronicle of a Death Foretold). According to Playbill.com, Fela will receive a workshop this summer to allow the creators to reshape their material. The workshop was also supposed to help determine whether the show had future commercial possibilities, but apparently the producers have already made that decision for themselves. Here's hoping that Jones and Lewis will be able to use the summer workshop to craft a piece that lives up to the promise of the show's conception, and does justice to its worthy subject matter.
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