Joan Acocella

There are two great things in it. One is Sahr Ngaujah, the man who, for most of the week, plays Fela. How did the producers find a performer who matched Fela in charm, wit, and insolence? They must have held a hundred auditions. In some respects, Ngaujah may actually be better than Fela. You can see a lot of Fela clips on YouTube. He is very charismatic, but Ngaujah seems more so, not to speak of the fact that he has all his teeth... The second glory of “Fela!” is the dancing, created by Bill T. Jones. It’s hard to make West African dance look bad—this is one of the great dance cultures of the world—but oh, how good Jones and the dancers, more than half of them American-born (the others are African or Caribbean), have made it look.