The old Reese’s peanut butter cup jingle is the perfect description for the Bill T. Jones – Fela extravaganza on Broadway: “Two great tastes that taste great together” FELA! is absolutely delicious — amazing choreography by Jones combined with spectacular direction overall. And Antibalas honors Fela’s music with their own deep grooving sounds — electrifying. Both the actors playing Fela and his Mother deserve Tony Awards — stunning performances. Mindblowing.

The only negative in this play is the heavy-handed attempt to add contemporary corporate bashing to Fela’s narrative. I understand the emotional connection — but there is no need to Americanize the Fela story- and I would argue that it detracts from the Nigerian story.  

Still — amazing work with great power.

For those of you not familiar with Fela, here is some video footage of the late great Nigerian musician