NewsPHOTO CALL: Fela! Return Engagement Opens on Broadway; Curtain Call, Red Carpet Arrivals and PartyThe Tony-winning Broadway musical Fela!, which explores the life of Nigerian musician and political figure Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in a production that is part narrative and part rock musical, officially opened on Broadway July 12 in a 32-performance encore run at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
By
Joseph Marzullo
July 12, 2012
The Broadway return began previews July 9 and plays through Aug. 4 as part of the production's current world tour. Fela! ran on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Nov. 23, 2009-Jan. 2, 2011, and has been seen in London and Nigeria, among other places.
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Fela! Return Engagement Opens on Broadway; Curtain Call, Red Carpet Arrivals and Party
Tony Award winner Bill T. Jones (Spring Awakening) directed and choreographed Fela!, which features a book by Jones and Jim Lewis and utilizes Anikulapo-Kuti's own music. Lewis, a Tony nominee for Chronicle of a Death Foretold, also penned additional lyrics. The musical was conceived by Jones, Lewis and Stephen Hendel.
Ngaujah, who earned a Tony Award nomination for creating the titular role on Broadway, plays most performances for the run. He is joined by Melanie Marshall and Paulette Ivory, who appeared in the Olivier-nominated National Theatre of Great Britain production. (At certain performances, the title role is played by Adesola Osakalumi or Duain Martyn.)
Fela! earned Tony nominations for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones), Best Actor (Ngaujah), Best Featured Actress (Lillias White), Best Choreography (Jones), Best Direction (Jones), Best Orchestrations (Aaron Johnson), Best Scenic Design (Marina Draghici), Best Costume Design (Marina Draghici), Best Lighting Design (Robert Wierzel) and Best Sound Design (Robert Kaplowitz). It took home the honors for Best Choreography, Best Costume Design and Best Sound Design. In Fela!, according to producers, "audiences are welcomed into the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), [the musical] explores Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician."
The design team includes scenic and costume designer Marina Draghici, lighting designer Rob Wierzel, sound designer Rob Kaplowitz and projection designer Peter Nigrini. Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean provide musical arrangements.
Tickets for performances through July 12 are $47-$92. For performances July 13-Aug. 4, tickets are $47-$132. Tickets can be purchased online by visiting Telecharge.com, by phone (212) 239-6200 or in-person at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th Street at 8th Avenue (beginning June 18).
The production will include Bernstein’s incidental music for Lillian Hellman’s adaptation of The Lark, and Menotti’s The Unicorn, The Gorgon, and The Manticore.
Based on the novel and film by Frank Cottrell Boyce, the new musical will reunite Guettel with Tony-winning Light in the Piazza director Bartlett Sher.