'Fela!' at the National Theatre

This week we went to see the new musical in town, 'Fela!', the Broadway production transferred to the Olivier stage in the National Theatre.

I enjoyed the show on Broadway and it will always be associated with the freezing cold of Snowmaggedon on the streets with the heat of the Eugene O'Neill theatre as the setting for Fela's nightclub in Lagos, Nigeria, The Shrine. And I'm pleased to say that they've taken the same approach with the staging of the London show, with the theatre decked out in posters, strings of lights hanging from the ceiling, paintings on the doors, decorating it like The Shrine.

'Fela!' tells the story of Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and political activist who invented Afrobeat (especially in it's 20 minute extended version!). The show is loosely set around his last performance in The Shrine in the late '70s and tells us how he went to London to go medical school but really how he discovered the music that would eventually emerge as Afrobeat and how he was politicised in America by the Black Power movement of the late 60s. The second half of the show is darker, with an extended dream sequence of him on a trip to the underworld and a chilling sequence about the invasion of his compound and the abuses his extended family suffered at the hands of the army.

That precis doesn't give you any idea what the show is really like. It throbs. It is hot. It sweats. It is sex. It is ebo (marijuana). It is cake. It is loud and proud and in your face with dancers gyrating and thrusting in your face and groin, non-stop, and they're all over the place - on the stage, in the aisles, in the balcony and on the walkway around the top of the stage. There is no escape so don't waste your time even trying. The dancers were magnificent and must be the fittest people in London at the moment to sustain the almost non-stop movement throughout the first half. I was weary within minutes just watching. They really are impressive.

All credit must go to Sahr Ngaujah in the role he originated on Broadway as Fela, and won all the awards last year. He controlled the show and controlled the audience, including numerous ad-libs to shout outs from the audience. He got us all - and I mean all - on our feet to do the clock after only half an hour. Has that ever happened in the National before? The clock is a series of hip and crotch thrusts aimed at the stations of the clock with the most blatant being 6 o'clock and midnight. And we did it, it's great fun (just watch out if you've got a bad back).

I'd also single out Paulette Ivory for a name check who played the American Black Power activist who has some great songs, both solo and with Fela, and who has a great voice and great moves. And, of course, I can't fail to mention Jacqui Dubois who played Miss Brown, the hat seller ("international styles, local prices") in 'The Harder They Come'. She didn't have a very obvious role but it was nice to see her anyway. The band also deserves a mention, being on stage and playing before the show starts and during the half time break.

The alternate Fela is Rolan Bell, who played the lead in 'The Harder They Come', our rebel hero Ivan, so there's a nice link with one of my favourite productions. I'd quite like to see 'Fela' with Rolan in the lead just to see what he does with the part.

If you get the chance, go and see it - it's a great night out, you'll learn something and you'll see some incredible dancing. Do the clock!