Art & Authenticy

As the dancers shook their bodies on the stage—-their dance and the rocking my music completely shook my senses. I was mesmerized and so was Ben Brantley! As Mr. Ben Brantley puts it “this is music that gets into your bloodstream, setting off vibrations you’ll live with for days to come. That the beat goes on, insistently and persuasively, makes “Fela!” nigh impossible to resist.” I completely agree with Brantley in that the show was truly irresistible. And as i watched the rest of the audience members standing and dancing “one o’ clock and two o’ clock” along with Fela I knew that this was true for each and every person sitting in the audience.  I will definitely remember the experience of seeing such an involving and vibrant Broadway show forever. Further what made the show an excellent package of entertainment was that the dance and the music was not just for fum but had a underlying purpose of revolt against the oppression in Nigeria. HIdden symbolism was all around – in the words of the song, in the portraits of civil leaders on the walls of the shrine, in the shrine itself, in the life lessons of Fela’s mother – this play was no foolish endeavor to draw the audience solely for it’s entertainment value but a skilled art form that payed a worthy tribute to the man who fought for an equally worthy cause (freedom for the people of his country from the oppressive government).