"FELA!"

I saw “Fela!” the other night and I was just blown away by the spirit, music and all-around joy that this new musical ignited in me. The vividness in which the life and times of Fela Anaikulapo Kuti, Nigerian musician and political dissident are created by choreographer Bill T. Jones on stage at the tiny 37 Arts theater is more then astounding. It’s almost a miracle. I’ve seen plenty of musical bios before (“Will Rodgers Follies” anyone), but never one that has matched the intensity of exuberance of life and mixed with such despair with the world at large.

The genius of Bill T. Jones is that this mixture is never jarring or forced. He goes from the wild and frenetic hip swiveling sexuality of ‘Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense’ (replete with having the entire audience participate in the hip swiveling) to the mournful ‘Sorrow Tears and Blood’ sung by the ethereal figure of his mother before she is brutally murdered by a regime intent on keeping a tight grip on power.

After the contribution that Jones made to help make “Spring Awakening” a success, he has complete artistic control with “Fela!” and boy, does he score. Other then perhaps some slow sections in the second half (I’m convinced everything can lose 15 minutes), “Fela!” moves like a Japanese bullet train. As with “Passing Strange” and “In the Height’s” both on Broadway last year, seeing different artists willing to try musical theater as an avenue for their craft, I finally am beginning to think that musicals can adjust to the 21st century.