Fela!' opens on Broadway

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Fela!' opens on Broadway

Photos: The musical 'Fela!,' choreographed by Bill T. Jones and with Sahr Ngaujah in the lead role, opens on Broadway.

Jay-Z, co-presenter of the musical "Fela!," arrives at the opening night performance of the new Broadway show in New York, Monday, Nov. 23.

Sahr Ngaujah plays the title role in "Fela!" on Broadway. The new musical follows the career and music of the Nigerian singer and social activist.

Bill T. Jones is choreographer and director of the Broadway production.

Bill T. Jones arrives with musician Lou Reed arrive at the opening night performance "Fela!."

Alicia Keyes arrives at opening night.

Gayle King arrives at the opening night performance.

Catherine Foster, Sahr Ngaujah and Nicole de Weever are shown in a scene from "Fela!" The musical about Nigerian superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti follows him from the streets of Lagos to international stardom.

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was a Nigerian composer, singer, bandleader and political activist. He and his followers actively resisted successive totalitarian governments, and he was arrested approximately 200 times and beaten and tortured. He died in 1997 at age 58.

Fela was also the father of Afrobeat, which melded influences from Nigerian Yoruba to Coltrane, Afro-Cuban mambo to Sinatra and then some. The music and the movement of "Fela!" evokes everything from joyous sensuality to oppression.

The musical about Nigerian superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is currently playing at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York.

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Jay-Z, co-presenter of the musical "Fela!," arrives at the opening night performance of the new Broadway show in New York, Monday, Nov. 23.

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