New York: 'Fela!' at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre

It might've been snowy winter outside last Wednesday night, but in the Eugene O'Neill Theatre it was hot hot hot in the nightclub called The Shrine. The theatre was decked out with statues, images and lights all over the place to create the impression that we were in Fela Kuti's nightclub in Nigeria, and it's great that the production took the effort to transform the theatre, not just the stage. Even better, there was a leaflet in the Playbill encouraging us to get drinks from the bar and drink them at our seats, something banned in most Broadway theatres.

'Fela!' tells the story of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, a Nigerian musician and political activist, set in his nightclub in the '70s. It tries to squash a lot in, from going to medical school in London and veering into music instead and creating the fusion of Afrobeat, his stand against corruption and battles with the Nigerian government. It's quite harrowing in places and includes the strangeness of him communing with his dead mother through ancestor worship several times through the show.

It's obviously a labour of love for the writers but I suspect they've crammed too much story into it and that makes it a bit difficult to follow in places. It's also quite selective in what it portrays - hardly a crime but it makes it all rather one-sided. Kevin Mambo played Fela and his Nigerian accent was so thick it would have floated in the slush rivers outside the theatre - perhaps softening it a bit for the purposes of greater understanding would help. But they are my only criticisms of the production - the music was outstanding and very well played, Kevin has a good singing voice and some ace moves and the women dancers were fab, gyrating and vibrating around the stage and up on the floating walkway, they were tiring to watch and I worried about them dancing in their bare feet.

Probably due to the snow outside there were quite a few empty seats so, at half-time we were moved forward into better seats. Yay for sensible seating management as well as being allowed to take drinks to our seats. And thanks to Kevin for the 12 o'clock gyrating hip movements. You can learn the strangest things on Broadway.