R&B Queen Patti LaBelle to Join Broadway's Fela! This September

Grammy Award winner Patti LaBelle will take her famous voice to the new hit musical Fela! this September, marking the diva’s first return to Broadway since her 1998 solo concert, Patti La Belle on Broadway. According to The New York Post, LaBelle will step in for Tony Award winner Lillias White in the role of mother Funmilayo Kuti while White goes down under for a series of concerts in Australia. Specific dates for LaBelle’s performances will be announced shortly.

In addition to numerous albums and hit songs including “On My Own,” “New Attitude” and “Lady Marmalade,” LaBelle appeared on Broadway in the musical revival of Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, Patti La Belle on Broadway and Patti La Belle. The singer and actress has also been seen onstage in the Los Angeles run of Chicago as Mama Morton.

In Fela!, which features a book by Jones and Jim Lewis, audiences are welcomed into the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), in a hybrid of concert, dance and musical theater, the show explores Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician.