December 6 Performance of Fela! Canceled Due to Cast Injuries

It's no secret that the new Broadway musical Fela!, the exuberant and intense combination of live Afrobeat music and innovative dance by Tony Award winner Bill T. Jones, is one of the most athletic shows on Broadway at the moment. The wear and tear of such a demanding production was evident on December 6, when the show was forced to shutter for the night due to injuries suffered by several cast members.

A spokesperson for the production explained that three cast members (dance captain Daniel Soto and ensemble players Nicole Chantal de Weever and Corey Baker), nursing unrelated injuries sustained during the dance-heavy tuner, were forced to call out of the Sunday performance, resulting in an emergency put-in rehearsal called prior to the show's 7pm curtain. During the rehearsal (which, due to the cast members injured, involved several swing performers learning entirely new tracks), it became evident that "both the safety of the performers and the quality of the show audiences had paid to see" would be compromised should curtain go up. Ten minutes after the performance was scheduled to begin, the audience was informed that the evening's performance would have to be canceled. All audience members were offered replacement tickets to future performances.

In an interview with The New York Times, producer Stephen Hendel explained that the show's understudies had not been rehearsed to perform without the key ensemble members who had been injured, an unfortunate circumstance that forced the cancellation.

Performances will resume as scheduled at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on December 8. Leading man Sahr Ngaujah and several cast members will appear as scheduled for a performance of the show's "Zombie" on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report on December 7, following host Stephen Colbert's interview with show helmer Jones.

Directed and choreographed by Jones with a book by Jim Lewis, Fela! welcomes its audience into the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of real-life Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), Fela! explores Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician.