Sure, white people will go for a black president:
Just don’t expect us to dance.
“Fela!,” the new off-Broadway musical about the Nigerian political activist and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, opens today. I caught a preview last week, and am happy to report that it blows most made-for-children-and-idiots Broadway musicals out of the water. I am even happier to report that some of the white audience members almost obeyed a call to dance, including the ancient, irritable theater critic next to me.
Impressive stuff. We can thank this man:
Sahr Ngaujah as Fela Kuti
O.K., credit might also be due to the show’s director and choreographer, Bill T. Jones, who has figured out how to move from concert dance to musical theater in a way that still eludes Twyla Tharp (No, you cannot convince me that her Billy Joel musical, “Movin’ Out,” was anything other than a travesty. Let’s not even talk about “The Times They Are A-Changin,’” please.).
“Fela!” is still musical theater, a distinctly limited genre that doesn’t tend to encourage nuance and sophistication (for Jones at his absolute best, check out “Reading, Mercy and the Artificial Nigger.”) And the cast, Ngaujah aside, is solid but not transcendent, particularly in the dance passages; their abilities pale next to companies like Urban Bush Women and Evidence.
But Jones has plenty of subversive fun, and, despite a few hokey moments, the work builds to a grippingly powerful finale. Check out this Soundcheck interview with Jones. And then get thee to the “Fela!” box office.
L-R: Aimee Graham, Irish Wilson, Marcus Phillips, Corey Baker, Jill M. Vallery, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Daniel Soto, Lauren Deveaux, Maia McKinney
September 5th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Great minds … I was just browsing Jolene’s blog, Saturday Matinee, and noticed that she had linked to another entry on Stuff White People Like:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/09/01/108-appearing-to-enjoy-classical-music/
It should be noted that appearing to enjoy classical music and standing still at concerts go hand in hand …
September 5th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
First a disclaimer: I’ve worked as a publicist with both Twyla Tharp and Bill T. Jones and was involved with both shows described. That said, I’m not sure what you mean by Twyla Tharp’s “Moving Out” being “a travesty.” Of what? Comparing Bill’s show and TT’s is the old apples and oranges. Movin” Out used dancing to move the show forward as where Fela moves forward by virtue of the title character’s music, dance and spoken performance . One critic called “Movin Out” a dancical. Although it certainly transcends the traditional of the term, I think musical would be more appropriate for Fela.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Hey Ellen, thanks so much for writing … well, yes, there are differences in the two works, certainly, so I hope I didn’t imply that Jones and Tharp are seeking to do the same things exactly. But wouldn’t both works fall loosely into the “jukebox musical” category?
Anyway, categories aside, I was thinking of the works in the context of “dance choreographers who turn to the theater.” In that sense there is much to compare, and, for me, Jones is much smarter and more sophisticated in his approach.
Both works revolve around the songs of an individual artist, though Jones, wisely, also uses extended monologue to advance the story. It allows him to furnish meanings that the songs themselves do not, although he’s ahead of Tharp simply in his choice of songwriter.
Time, thankfully, has dulled my memory of “Movin’ Out,” but I remember being horrified in its simplistic take on a time and place in American history, and in its tired old cliches of youth, war, the working class, etc.
This definition of travesty, thank you dictionary.com, will do for my purposes:
2. a literary or artistic composition so inferior in quality as to be merely a grotesque imitation of its model.
The model here is life. Under Tharp’s heavy-handed direction, rich reality is translated into impoverished theater.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
wow, The Times They Are A-Changin’ - I haven’t thought about that since I saw their previews in San Diego before their Broadway “run”. Michael Arden was amazing, but other than that… I personally enjoyed “Movin’ Out” because I felt like I *learned* how Tharp is really supposed to look like (sorry, I’m still wary of many top ballet companies doing Tharp, except for Joffrey and Miami City Ballet). You’re right though, about its simplistic take on history.
I couldn’t get that classical music blog entry on SWPL (it looks so much better in acronym
) out of my mind when I attended my first symphony gala. It was so obvious that no one attends during the year; people left in droves after intermission and even *during* the last piece.
“I am even happier to report that some of the white audience members almost obeyed a call to dance, including the ancient, irritable theater critic next to me. ”
Can I venture to ask if *you* were tempted to dance? Even to tap a toe?
How cool is it that a highly respected choreographer like Bill T. Jones is making dance more accessible to general Broadway audiences who may never step inside a dance theater. Although his choreography in Spring Awakening was controversial, I loved how symbolic and visceral it was. It’s worlds better than jazz hands or a kickline that we’re used to seeing on Broadway.
September 6th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I was dancing! Couldn’t help it, Fela Kuti’s music is irresistible. So maybe I should have said that “at least one white person was actually dancing - nothing crazy, mind you, but still …”
I think you’re right to be wary. The few times that I saw Tharp’s company (the last one, before she disbanded “for good”), the difference was extreme, in terms of attack, fierceness, a certain sexiness … I’ve seen ABT do the most Tharp works, I guess, and the quality of the interpretation varies quite widely. Alvin Ailey was the worst - they danced the “Golden Section” like they were putting on a Broadway show. I wish she would get another company, or even be a resident choreographer if she wants only to work with the big ballet companies.