Fela! Scribe Jim Lewis on the Show's Wild Ride to 11 Tony Nominations

About the author:
Eight years ago, writer Jim Lewis (This Beautiful City, Tony Award nominee for the book to Chronicle of a Death Untold) got involved with an unlikely project: bringing the story of Afrobeat pioneer and political revolutionary Fela Anikulapo Kuti to the stage, as presented by acclaimed choreographer and artist Bill T. Jones. To some, the project may have seemed absurd—how big an audience is there for the story of a controversial Nigerian polygamist, especially when told through modern dance? Nearly 10 years and 11 Tony Award nominations later, the only thing absurd thing about Fela! is the idea that the show could be considered anything other than a big success. With the Tonys fast approaching, and curious audiences rushing to see what the Fela! buzz is all about, Broadway.com asked Lewis to tell the behind-the-scenes story of this unique show—and his own discomfort with the spotlight now shining on its brilliant creative team.

When my agent called at 9:30AM on May 4 to tell me I had been nominated for a Tony Award, along with 10 other nominations for Fela!, I was doing what I always do on Tuesdays: daydreaming, and laundry. And honestly, I didn’t think the announcements would come until after 10AM. I mean, what theater person is up before 10? Isn’t that why we all got into the theater in the first place?

Actually, it’s a little funny I ended up in the theater at all. So many people who end up in this business crave the attention that comes with performing and the thrill of the awards and the glam. I actually kind of dread all of that. Of course, it’s a great honor to be nominated, and this being my second Tony nomination, I’ve been through it before. But I really don’t like the “limelight.” I never wanted to perform on a stage. And the bright lights are, for me, well, just blinding. I prefer the view from offstage.

No, what draws me to the theater is the pleasure I get from collaborating with artists who are really trying to change the way theater is done. So you can imagine how excited I was almost eight years ago when [co-writer] Bill T. Jones came to me and said he’d been approached by Steve Hendel to do a musical about Fela Kuti. I’ve worked with Bill on a number of his complex dance/theater pieces for almost 20 years. Still, both of us were a bit leery. Fela Kuti and Bill T. Jones on Broadway?! Not an obvious choice.

So rather than sitting down and just writing the “book,” what I proposed was what a collaborator like myself can usually only dream about (because, as we know in this business, time is money). We asked Steve for a series of three or four short workshops in which Bill and I and a group of talented actors and dancers could get together in a room and try to create the most fantastic “versions” of one or two Fela songs at a time, loosely based around some sort of theme. You know, like Fela’s 27 wives, or torture—the usual musical theater topics.

All I would give them to start was some text and a rough outline of what I envisioned the show would look like: a series of loosely connected “scenes” to be put up in some abandoned warehouse, more “rave” than bio-drama. (When we started the piece eight years ago, there were still plenty of empty warehouses out there. I had a one-year-old then, who is turning nine next month—so you see how long these shows take).

The idea that Bill and I could create a new kind of show that would appeal to a really diverse audience, more accustomed to MTV than a well-made play, fueled our work over the next five years. How could something closer to the energy of a concert also tell a story and inspire young people to strive to change the world? That’s what Fela Kuti was trying to do, right? And Fela’s music, Afrobeat, is created by layering in sounds. Could a musical also get its meaning by layering, rather than unfolding? More cubist painting, say, than realist portrait?

Well, you get the picture. Bill and I (and all our fellow collaborators) were in collaboration heaven. That is until 2008, when we found ourselves off-Broadway at 37 Arts, with only half a show and a producer anxious to see if he might eventually make back some of the money he had invested over the years. Early on, there was a lot of skepticism that we could do it, but together Bill and I managed to stitch together just enough material to please audiences and critics alike. But by then our dreams of that alternate space were replaced by a new reality: to do the show we’d created would cost too much to run anywhere but Broadway. So while the producers looked into the logistics of a move, Bill and I returned to the drawing board to figure out how, without losing the energy we had managed to create off-Broadway, we could deepen the storyline and give the piece a stronger emotional spine to accompany its visceral one. All the while we knew full well that what we were trying to do would still not be an easy “sell” (as they say on the Great White Way).

So coming full circle, Fela! is playing eight shows a week on Broadway, and I’m doing my laundry. But now, I can’t help but think about the Tonys—and, believe it or not, even musing what it might be like to be one of the Tony voters.

Hey, a guy can always dream, can’t he?