Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

Fela! returns to Lagos

By Chuks Nwanne
04 March 2017   |   2:54 am
In celebration of late music legend and Afrobeat creator Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Smooth FM is set to present the award-winning Broadway musical Fela! Billed to open on April 13 and runs through April 15....

In celebration of late music legend and Afrobeat creator Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Smooth FM is set to present the award-winning Broadway musical Fela! Billed to open on April 13 and runs through April 15, the three-day show holds at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Consisting a blend of jazz, funk, African rhythm and harmonies, the musical explores Fela’s controversial life as an artiste, a political activist and a revolutionary musician. It will feature series of his most captivating songs and imaginative staging hereby presenting a provocative hybrid of concert, dance and musical theatre.

Conceived by the iconic Bill T. Jones and starring cast members of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, the show promise Afrobeat music lovers and enthusiasts from all over the world unforgettable nights of dance and music by the late maestro. 

Fela! is a musical with a book by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, based on music and lyrics by the late Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, with additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean and additional lyrics by Jim Lewis. It is based on events in the life of groundbreaking Nigerian composer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It portrays Fela in the days when he was the target of 1,000 government soldiers assigned to end his public performances at the legendary African Shrine.

The musical ran Off-Broadway for one month in 2008, premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on November 23, 2009 and ran until January 2011. The Off-Broadway production won the Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Musical, Outstanding Choreographer for Bill T. Jones, and Outstanding Costume Design for Marina Draghici, while the Broadway production received eleven 2010 Tony Award nominations and won Best Choreography, Best Costume Design of a Musical, and Best Sound Design of a Musical.

In this article

0 Comments