Afropop correspondent Mark Gettes is currently in Nigeria, reporting on the historic event of FELA! the Broadway musical opening in Lagos.
The hottest place on the planet this week, theatrically speaking, was not in New York or London but in Africa. FELA!, the Broadway musical about the life of Afrobeat pioneer and political rebel Fela Kuti, began an historic and groundbreaking series of performances in Lagos, Nigeria, Fela's home city.
Produced by a Nigerian Production company, Broken Shackles, with the assistance of the Lagos State Government, the entire Broadway production, consisting of over 80 cast members and crew, as well as 19 tons of equipment, were transported to Lagos to present the show. According to Stephen Hendel, the originator and producer of the original Broadway production, this is only the second time in the history of Broadway than an entire Broadway cast has been transported to a foreign country to perform a show, and is the first time a Broadway cast has performed in Africa.
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| Femi Kuti with the cast (Photo by Niegel Smith) |
After a single performance last week of a concert version of the show at the New Africa Shrine, where they were joined onstage by Femi Kuti, Fela's eldest son and Afrobeat bandleader, the full version of the Broadway show opened on Thursday night at the Eko Center, a conference hall converted to a theater for the purposes of the show. Closer to the size of Madison Square Garden than to a Broadway theater, the Eko Center was filled almost to capacity for opening night. Many luminaries were in attendance, including Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Former Governor of Lagos State, Ahmed Tinubu, his Excellency Babatunde Fashola, the current governor of Lagos State, and many other Nigerian politicians and members of Nigeria's musical, artistic, and fashion communities. In remarks from onstage before the show, Governor Tinubu spoke of how he became absolutely determined to bring the show to Nigeria after seeing the show on Broadway on Broadway in New York. He also commented that he thought it was reason for great optimism that a show such as FELA!, which in parts is openly critical of the Nigerian government and power structure, could be presented freely and openly in Nigeria, particularly as it opened just days after the Nigerian Presidential election.
