Complete Casting Announced for Fela! on the West End

Casting has been announced for the National Theatre’s previously announced presentation of Tony Award nominated hit Fela!, which opens at the Olivier Theatre on November 16. The production, currently running at Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre, will be helmed by Tony Award winner and show creator Bill T. Jones.

As announced, Tony-nominated star Sahr Ngaujah will reprise his role as the show’s namesake, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. He is joined by a cast featuring Paulette Ivory as love interest Sandra and Melanie Marshall as mother Funmilayo, and an ensemble featuring Lydie Alberto, Cindy Belliot, Nandi Bhebhe, Ricardo Coke Thomas, Scarlette Douglas, Jacqui Dubois, Poundo Gomis, Jazmine Jarret Thorpe, Aisha Jawando, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Nyron Levy, Ira Mandela Siobhan, Shelley-Ann Maxwell, Tamara McKoy Patterson, Catia Moto da Cruz, Pamela Okoroafor, Jermaine Rowe and Craig Stein.

Ivory’s West End credits include Smokey Joes Café, The Hot Mikado and Buddy, as well as A Woman of No Importance and West Side Story with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She also played the title role on the US national tour of Aida. Numerous TV credits include The Young and the Restless, Girlfriends, Strong Medicine and EastEnders.

Marshall has been seen on the West End in The Hot Mikado and Porgy and Bess,. She also appeared in the musical revue Showtune at the Bridewell Theatre.

In Fela!, audiences are welcomed into the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of real-life revolutionary 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.

Fela! will play in repertory with Hamlet starring Rory Kinnear, which begins performances on September 30 in anticipation of its October 7 opening at the National. Both Fela! and Hamlet will be broadcast to theaters worldwide as part of the company’s National Theatre Live initiative.