'Fela' heads to Broadway

Tuner funks up Rialto musical landscape

By GORDON COX

During its initial Off Broadway run, "Fela!" turned into a buzz magnet: Glowing reviews from the Gotham press, starry admirers like Beyonce, and even reports that Jay-Z and Will Smith were signing on as investors.

But the Afrobeat tuner, currently in previews for a Nov. 23 opening at the Eugene O'Neill Theater, represents a significant commercial risk as it comes to Broadway. The brainchild of a first-time producer, "Fela" centers on an influential musician — Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer and political activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti — who is not exactly a household name in the U.S. The production has a loose, nontraditional structure peppered with Kuti tunes, many with lyrics orriginally written in Yoruba and pidgin English, that sound like no other score on the Rialto. And the musical has a participatory, get-up-and-dance vibe that might turn off the more traditional legit auds who'd rather sit back to be entertained.

None of this is news to the musical's producers and creators.

"The show is not coming out of a commercial theater trajectory," acknowledges lead producer Stephen Hendel.

But those involved hope the offering's unorthodox nature can prove an asset that will pull in more of the enthusiastic auds "Fela!" attracted Off Broadway.

Playing the title role, Sahr Ngaujah drew raves for his performance. He alternates in the Broadway transfer with Kevin Mambo in the high-energy role, with vet Rialto belter Lillias White also joining the cast as Fela's mother.

The project was conceived by Hendel, a music enthusiast who discovered Kuti's work and life story when he picked up a compilation album some nine years ago. He was wowed by a biography that encompassed not only a respected musical career but also a long history of human rights and political activism before Kuti died in 1997.

Though not a producer by trade — he's the founder and managing partner of Hess Energy Trading Co. — Hendel had some familiarity with the legit industry through his wife, producer Ruth Hendel ("Hamlet," "All My Sons"). So he wasn't a complete stage tyro when his lawyer suggested he contact Bill T. Jones to talk over the idea.

Jones, longtime topper of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and Hendel began talking before the opening of "Spring Awakening," the tuner for which Jones won a choreography Tony in 2007. But that show was up and running Off Broadway (where it bowed in spring 2006) by the time Hendel secured rights to the Kuti material.

Jones teamed up with Jim Lewis, the dramaturg with whom he had previously worked on a 1994 Guthrie Theater staging of "Dream on Monkey Mountain," to pen treatments of a stage translation of Kuti's life story. (The book is credited to Lewis and Jones, with the pair plus Hendel listed as the show's conceivers.)

Brooklyn Afrobeat band Antibalas — which comprises the show's orchestra, music directed by band member Aaron Johnson — was recruited for the project, and initial production development was conducted over a couple of workshops in 2007.

Perhaps the most unorthodox element of the process was the decision to rent an Off Broadway theater at 37 Arts in summer 2008, where over six weeks, Jones and his collaborators (performers, designers, musicians) created and shaped "Fela." At the end of that period, the show kicked off its eight-week run there.

"It was like having 50 artists creating in a room," Hendel says. "It's crazy, but I think that's part of the thrill of the piece."

For his part, Jones was not initially convinced "Fela" and the legit Main Stem were a natural fit.

"I had doubts the theater was interested in an African who was a firebrand and who was political, and I was not sure his music was of the kind the Broadway demographic would be attracted to," he says. "But as we were working on the piece, we tapped into a subculture that came out in droves."

Hendel wouldn't confirm the participation of Jay-Z and Smith, saying only, "The nature of the show has excited some people who are very familiar and talented."

Though he also would not confirm capitalization costs, the "Fela" pricetag is thought to be in the area of $11 million.

It's not yet clear whether Jay-Z or Smith would tout the show publicly, but it wouldn't hurt if they did. Such a step could go a long way toward tapping the demos "Fela" hopes to attract, including younger auds, music enthusiasts and African-Americans.

For now, the show's marketing targets nontraditional Rialto ticketbuyers through print, electronic and radio outlets, as well as reaching out to the Antibalas fan base and church groups.

Creatives, meanwhile, are using the Broadway preview process to put finishing touches on the tuner — including trimming the production, which acquired a rep for being overstuffed and overlong, down to its current two-hour, 20-minute running time.

Throughout the show's development, Hendel says, a guiding principle has been to craft "Fela" into something that stands out as original and challenging while also being entertaining and inclusive enough to find a tenable commercial foothold.

That goes for the stage translation of the Kuti songs, too, says music director Johnson. In their original form, the numbers tend to run 12 to 15 minutes, but they have necessarily been reshaped for the musical.

"We're trying to retain that edge, but at the same time we are making a Broadway show," he says.