FREE Broadway tickets to Fela! (NYC)

I am very pleased to offer our NY readers TWO FREE TICKETS to the Broadway hit Fela! here in NYC. The vouchers are good for a number of dates in January and February, so you can pick the date yourself once you receive the voucher. To enter, please email us at info(at)gfpmusic(dot)com by 1pm tomorrow (Friday) with Fela! in the subject line and your name and mailing address in the body (so we can mail you the voucher). We will notify the winner by 5pm.

Last night, I had the privilege of seeing this show myself. It's a jubilant, vivacious, colorful musical that will literally get you up out of your seats, dancing to the afro-beats of Fela Kuti, singing and shouting "yeah yeah!" (yes, audience participation is part of the show, but don't worry, you don't have to get on stage or anything). First, I would like to give major props to the dancers who hardly ever stopped moving during the show - even when "Fela" was just talking, they would be dancing with really high energy in the background. Second, I want to give props to the costume people who designed costumes that made it impossible for you to tear your eyes away.

And of course, despite how joyful and frenetic most of the show is, it has some very serious moments too and I think the overall message is very relevant today in many countries. It's relevant in part here in the US because we have an African American president in office so, on the one hand, there have been great strides taken toward equality in this country. On the other hand, we still have a long way to go before we actually reach real equality in terms of race, gender, religion and sexual identity. Also, a key theme of the political and corporate corruption is laced throughout the show (sometimes more blatantly than others, as dancers cross the stage with signs reading the names of companies like AIG, Enron, the WTO, and many more). This anti-corporation feeling is something many of us can probably relate to right now, as the corporations who quite literally screwed up much of the world's economy get huge government bailouts while the citizens continue to get their homes foreclosed on, lose their jobs, etc.

All in all, Fela! is a great show and I definitely would recommend it. I think it has a wider appeal than some Broadway shows because in some ways it is set up to be more like a show at Fela's club, the Shrine, than a Broadway show and music is incredibly central to the story and is played almost throughout the entire show. I very much enjoyed myself.

Zombie [mp3]