In November 2009, the sound of Afrobeat filled a theatre on Broadway. On stage, actors and dancers recreated a night at the Shrine, Fela Kuti’s famous club in Lagos, with a live band playing the horn lines and long grooves of his music. Fela! was an unlikely Broadway show, built around a Nigerian musician who spent much of his life in conflict with his own government. It became one of the most talked about productions of its season.
The idea and the story
The musical was developed by Bill T. Jones, the American choreographer and director, with Jim Lewis. It was produced with support from figures including Jay-Z, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, whose involvement drew attention to the production. Fela! first ran off-Broadway in 2008 before moving to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Broadway the following year. The transfer was a sign of how strongly audiences had responded.
The show is set on a night at the Shrine in the late 1970s. Fela tells the story of his life, his mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and the government raids on his Kalakuta Republic compound, while the band plays his music.
The band, the lead and the Tonys
Members of Antibalas, the Brooklyn Afrobeat band, played in the orchestra. Their experience with Fela’s style gave the music an authentic feel. Sahr Ngaujah and Kevin Mambo shared the title role on Broadway. Ngaujah later played Fela in other productions, including the London run. Fela! received 11 Tony Award nominations in 2010, including Best Musical. It won three, including Best Choreography for Bill T. Jones.
The production went to the National Theatre in London in 2010. In 2011 it was staged in Lagos, bringing Fela’s story home to the city where it happened.
Renewed interest and legacy
The show added to renewed international interest in Afrobeat in the 2010s, as Fela’s sons Femi and Seun Kuti continued to tour the world with their own bands. The musical introduced Fela’s music to theatre audiences who might never have heard it. It also helped prepare the ground for the global attention Nigerian music would receive in the years that followed.
Fela Kuti spent years being raided by soldiers in Lagos. Three decades later, his story was being performed nightly for Broadway audiences, with the horn section still playing his music the way he wrote it.
