Could ‘Fela!’ Actually Make It on Broadway?

Sure, it’s hard to imagine that a dance musical about Fela Kuti — Afrobeat hero, mischief maker, and singer of “Expensive Shit” (a thirteen-minute song whose chorus is “Because the shit does smell!”) — could connect with Broadway audiences, as Michael Riedel seems to be claiming in his column this morning. Would Circle in the Square or the Roundabout really be able to make a profit on this show, despite Riedel saying they’ve been sniffing around 37 Arts, where Fela! opens Off Broadway next week? Could Fela! actually “shake up the terrain” on Broadway? Oh, if only we lived in a world where that was possible! But Bill T. Jones directs, Antibalas performs the music, and star Sahr Ngaujah is apparently totally great. So who cares! We’ll totally see it.

B’WAY BUZZES ABOUT ‘FELA!’ [NYP]