A powerful force just swept into the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, as musical whirlwind Patti LaBelle took over the role of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti in Fela! on September 14. The Godmother of Soul has won multiple Grammys, but this is her first time in a Broadway musical since her appearance in Your Arms Too Short to Box With God in 1982 ...

File this one under "once in a lifetime"! One legend joined another on stage when R&B superstar Patti LaBelle took over the role of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti in Broadway’s Fela!. LaBelle is playing the mother of Fela Kuti, a legend in his own right as pioneer of Afrobeat music. She joined the show on September 14 and was welcomed ...

Bono, Carlos Santana, Paul McCartney… those are just some of the rock stars who count themselves as big fans of legendary musician Fela Kuti. Now 20-time Grammy winner Bruce Springsteen can be added to the list as “The Boss” headed to The Shrine (a.k.a. the Eugene O’Neill Theatre) to jam to the Afrobeat sounds of the Fela ...

The sound of afrobeat will cease to drum on Broadway when the musical Fela! closes on January 2, 2011, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. Beginning September 14, Grammy winner Patti LaBelle will take over the role of Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti, currently played by Lillias White, who will give her final performance in the role that won her a Tony nomination ...

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 ...

A pop star and a football star: All kinds of famous folks are making their way to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre to see the Tony-nominated musical phenomenon Fela! On June 17, crooner Jason Mraz and New York Jets safety James Ihedigdo (who shares a Nigerian background with the musical’s title character Fela Kuti) enjoyed a performance of the ...

Everybody say "yea, yea"! Broadway's newest A-list producers Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith  were on hand to introduce their jamming musical Fela!. Tony nominee Sahr Ngaujah welcomed the audience to the Shrine where he and his followers showed off some serious dance moves (courtesy of Tony winner Bill T. Jones)...not to mention Ngaujah's rocking saxophone skills ...

Best Featured Actress in a Musical nominee Lillias White glows in ghostly ivory tones while she’s bringing the house down at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in Best Musical nominee Fela!. So it’s no surprise this big-belting diva opted to brighten things up offstage when she strolled onto the 2010 Tony Awards carpet. Between that gold bindi-work, slick ...

Movie audiences will have the chance to see the 11-time Tony Award nominee known as Fela!, thanks to London’s National Theatre. In January 2011, before the national tour of the Broadway phenomenon hits the road, the National will broadcast its own previously announced West End run in theaters across the globe. The company has yet to announce specific dates ...

She sings, she laughs, she rips on Cats—she is Tony Award winner Lillias White, and she's in rare form in one of our feistiest Ask a Stars to date! White, currently a Tony Award nominee for her powerhouse performance in hit musical event Fela!, has had a long run on Broadway, appearing in favorites like Barnum, The Life ...