After 14 months run at the Broadway and London’s Royal National Theatre, FELA! succeeded in turning all its critics to fans but the crew admitted after meeting the press in Nigeria that they were yet to meet their toughest critics ever.
Bent on proving to Nigerians amongst whom Fela lived and died that they know Fela as much as any other Nigerian, the FELA! cast took on the concert space of the The New Afrika Shrine on Thursday night, 14th April, 2011, and presented a tribute concert version of the show.
More pictures after the cut...
I do not support this stage play at all. I mean why should other people( even if they are black or African Americans) interpret a story that is ours.Imagine, Jay z & Will Smith producing it, what do they know about Fela? They bought it I know but whoever sold it to them is dumb.
ReplyDeleteWhatever to annon @ April 17, 2011 8:18 PM :
ReplyDeleteIf it was left up to Nigerian producers, FELA! would have never seen the lights of a stage. We are not that into preserving our culture.
Kudos to the casts and producers!
@ Anonymous, what has Nigeria done for FELA?? is he being taught in Nigerian history or music history? did we preserve his home, his music or even his legacy.
ReplyDeleteLike you I am very angry that other people had to remember FELA like this but I am grateful that they have so the rest of the world can experience him too.
The performance was/is fantastic :)
abeg free them jor i think they are doing a great job.....nollywood and nigerians sat on this opportunity for years
ReplyDeleteI agree with Annon @ 8:18pm...
ReplyDeleteFor God sake, this man's kids are alive so why cant JayZ support the children and help produce the movie if they are so interested...what do they know about FELA than the children....it is rlly apappling because the children should produce it not Will Smith and other people.....
I have sed my own.....
what a fantastic show. I'm so happy i got a chance to see it live.
ReplyDeleteThey did well by bringing FELA! to Nigeria so soon. Kudos...
ReplyDeleteAnon 1-DUH!!!
ReplyDeleteAnon 2- very well said. Maybe the first 'Anonymous' was hoping to clinch the production rights to Fela! I mean people spew nonsense when they know absolutely nothing. What's so horribly wrong with another country preserving the memories of Fela to our nation and other parts of the world?
I can agree with the comment made on April 17, 2011 8:49 PM.
ReplyDeleteFela's story is the worlds, and I am really glad that he is getting the recognition he deserves even in death.
To the first comment: its good that you stay anonymous, because greedy thoughts like that is what messes up the world. Be glad that our heritage is being spread around!!
So what was the verdict among Shrine regulars and lagosians at large?
ReplyDeleteI've heard it's really good, but mainly from friends who watched it on broadway. What did nigerians make of it?
As to why it was produced by foreigners rather than nigerians themselves? Hookums, shnookums, it's a broadway play! The train left the station as Nigerians looked on, and sounds like its been a resounding success so who gives a *beep*
nigerians as usual only crticize. why didnt u think to bring it to us and fill it with nigerians? abeg go joo with ur black belle.
ReplyDeletei do feel that it is a bit weird that not one single Nigerian is a member of the cast, but lets be honest, if it was left to Nigerians, this story would never be told. How many years has it been since Fela passed? and in all that time not one single Nigerian had the bright idea of turning his story into a stage play or even a movie. it took Jay Z and the Smith's to realise that this was a story worth telling.
ReplyDeleteanyway, im not surprised. this is typical Nigerian behavour.
thank you o! Anon @ 8.49
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 8.18 please why didn't you bid for the rights? bottom line, a great man's story is being told all round the world. something positive to connect Nigeria with globally. People should try to focus on the big picture and refrain from being overly critical and unnecessarily petty.
Anonymous 8:18, then don't support it by keeping quiet. see case tchieeeew
ReplyDeleteGuess what, Nigerians can still do a production on Fela. They can do a production on a million uniquely Nigerian stories or Nigerian personalities, but they have not yet. So until we start appreciating ourselves, we shouldn't get mad when others do it for us.
ReplyDeleteYes like Femi Kuti said, Nigeria should be presenting Fela to the world, but he's too busy borning babies with random mgbekes to do a tribute to his own father's legacy, so let's all sip our big cup of STFU and either watch or not watch the show
nice, can't wait to watch it. I'm not surprised the americans staged it first cos they believe in preserving culture, history and also are alive to stage drama's something we find strange in 9ja. Our theatres are dieing and our culture fast going into extinction what better way to preserve culture/history than on stage!
ReplyDeleteA HUGE THANK YOU to Anonymous 11.08
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous 8.18: whether you support the play or not, it's still rolling right along. Yes, I can imagine Jay-Z, Will & Jada Smith producing this play because when it was lacking the funding to go on I did NOT hear of ONE Nigerian coming up with the money to save the show from failing. I can imagine them doing it because they are artists and BUSINESS people who saw an opportunity to not only bring a great story to the people but saw that they was money to be made by doing so!
There is saying that a prophet has no respect in his own land, Fela belongs to us but we didn't do anything with him but now that others have seen the diamond in the hunk of coal, we are complaining? Abeg, make all the complainers either put up their own money and stage their own production - film or stage - or like my persin don tok, go drink a tall glass of STFU with a chaser of GTFOH!
lol, maybe Nigerians should get a cast together to put on a musical show in honor of the life of Elvis Presley lol
ReplyDelete@ Alicia, it looks like you missed the point as usual. We haven't done a good job at preserving our culture so how are we going to preserve personalities from other nations? You mentioned Elvis, his family is already doing a great job at making sure Elvis' legacy is not quickly forgotten. His estate made about $55 million annually.....so there you go.
ReplyDelete