FELA! (B'way) Reviews - Page 2

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 11/23/09 at 4:27pm

The show is horribly structured and doesn't know what it wants to be. It jumps around too much and leaves you confused. The story is hard to follow and breaking it up with random dance numbers doesn't help. The show was like stimulation overload...too much going on at once. I didn't know where to look.

I thought it was awful. Thankfully, my tickets were comp tickets.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 11/23/09 at 5:49pm

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought part of the compact in being comped is being discreet if you don't like it. Even if you feel the need to air your honest opinion in a chat room, there may be a more measured way to express it.

Jones and his collaborators are going after something new here, and while it may not be to your or others' taste, it doesn't leave everyone confused as you imply. I wish the book were better, but I liked the sensurround aspect, loved the band, and was awed by the lead.
Updated On: 11/23/09 at 05:49 PM

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 11/23/09 at 5:58pm

I didn't imply that everyone would not like it...I implied that I did not like it.

And just because my ticket was a comp doesn't mean I am not allowed to express my opinion. You've no idea how I got the tickets, what the situation was, or the terms around it...who cares if my ticket was a comp? It doesn't change how I feel about the show. It's not like I used phrases like, "It sucked!" I just said it was horribly structured, confused me, and was a strange experience IMO.

And I also did say that I thought the talent was great.

[Sauja]

Posted: 11/23/09 at 7:52pm

Variety is mixed-to-positive and (in my mind) very accurate.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941667.html?categoryid=33&cs=1&ref=ssp

"Crafting a show that's more impressionistic than informational has its limitations as well as rewards. Despite minor tightening since it premiered Off Broadway last fall, "Fela!" remains undershaped; at times, it's repetitive and self-indulgent...But such reservations are secondary to the tremendous raw authenticity and electric energy of this dance-heavy bio-musical, and the dangerous sensuality of Sahr Ngaujah (alternating performances with Kevin Mambo), who inhabits the title role with a cool command that never loses intensity."

[Sauja]

Posted: 11/23/09 at 8:02pm

Talkin Broadway is Mixed. He liked it better Off-Broadway.

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/index.html

"The Shrine may have gotten a lot bigger, but the religion of Fela! has not grown less electrifying. Just over a year after Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis’s musical about Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti had its cramped premiere Off-Broadway at 37 Arts, it’s now blasted into the Eugene O’Neill, where its creators - and its superstar producing team, which includes Jay-Z, Will Smith, and Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith - are intent on proving that a bigger hall is just as apt a venue for its political-party aesthetic. They got it half right."

[After Eight]

Posted: 11/24/09 at 7:55am

From Sauja:

"I do question why so many people have taken this space to restate their hatred of a show that hasn't opened yet. Lots of us hate lots of things, but that isn't what this discussion is about. Besides which, if something just isn't your thing, then what's the sense in hating on it?"


I see nothing wrong with people expressing hatred of a show if that's what they felt. In fact, I think it's completely natural, and even healthy to get it off one's chest. If you've wasted money and/or time at something that makes you angry, you need to vent that anger. And this group is exactly the place to do it in.


"But whining at the highest possible pitch that you hated the music and thought it was terrible and unwatchable for reasons you can't articulate is petulant, bratty, and ridiculous."

I found nothing petulant, bratty or ridiculous in those who stated their dislike of their show. On the contrary, the intensity of their dislike is quite revealing.

And why is it necessary that one articulate one's reasons to validate one's reactions? Or even be articulate? Not everyone is. That doesn't mean their reactions are to be discounted. I noticed that one of the show's biggest champions on this board presented a post with bad spelling errors. Does that invalidate his positive reaction?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/24/09 at 10:46am

NYT
http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/theater/reviews/24fela.html?ref=theater

[Roscoe]

Posted: 11/24/09 at 12:29pm

Well well. I'm surprised at the critical response this show has gotten. After the praise heaped on that sad FINIAN'S RAINBOW and the unspeakable MEMPHIS I'd about given up on the reviewers being able to recognize a good show when they saw one.