Thanks to a gift from a wonderful friend I was able to see FELA! on Broadway before it closed yesterday. I have been a huge fan of Bill T. Jones for about as long as I can remember (Did you know that he just received the Kennedy Center Honors!? Read what he has to say about it here!) and was excited to see so many modern dancers on a Broadway stage (including Oneika Phillips whose time at Shenandoah University overlapped with my very short adventure there. I always love that moment when you find out that someone who you knew as being immensely talented a long time ago has indeed gone on to do amazing things!).
Bill T.'s vision of the story of Fela Kuti is beautiful, intoxicating, expansive and inspiring. His use of projections and video give the theatre a never-ending, otherworldly feel. The line between actor, dancer and musician is constantly blurred, often beyond recognition. As for the dancing... Someone told me that there was "no real dancing" in the show. Maybe not in the traditional musical theatre sense of "musical numbers", but the performers never stop moving and it is breathtaking. There's even a point where the audience gets up to dance!
Why are you telling us this about a show that just closed, you ask? Why because Brookline's Coolidge Corner Theatre will be showing the National Theatre (London) production LIVE on January 13th with an encore on January 17th!
Not in Boston but want to see FELA and other National Theatre Live productions? Find a venue near you here!
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