FELA! tickets at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Olivier and Tony Award-nominated actor Sahr Ngaujah leads the cast of FELA! at Sadler’s Wells’ this summer, joined by Melanie Marshall as Funmilayo Kuti and Paulette Ivory as Sandra Izsadore. A provocative hybrid of dance, theatre and music, exploring the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical runs at Sadler’s Wells from 20 July to 28 August 2011. Ngaujah, Marshall and Ivory reprise their roles in FELA!, Ngaujah having most recently led the cast for the landmark performances of FELA! in Lagos, as well as at the National Theatre in 2010. During its run at the NT, the show received three Olivier Award nominations, including one for Sahr Ngaujah as Best Actor in a Musical. Ngaujah originated the role of Fela Kuti Off-Broadway and transferred with the show to Broadway, where he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. His film and TV credits include Passing Glory, A Lesson Before Dying, The Signal, Stomp the Yard and Blood Done Sign My Name. He is currently art director for the Sierra Leone hiphop act Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew. Paulette Ivory originated the role of Nala in the West End production of The Lion King and was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for her role in the US National Tour of Aida. Melanie Marshall has appeared in Simply Heavenly, Porgy and Bess, Fame, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Kiss Me Kate in the West End. Adesola Osakalumi plays Fela Kuti at certain performances throughout the run and understudies Sahr Ngaujah. He previously understudied the role of Fela Kuti in New York. His other credits include Equus on Broadway, and Jam on the Groove, for which he was nominate for a Drama Desk award. Also joining the cast of 25 are Ismael Kouyate, Gelan Lambert, Talu Green, Iris Wilson, Nicole DeWeever, Cat Foster, Cindy Belliot, Aimee Wodobode, Nandi Bhebhe, Pundo Gomis, Catia Mota Da Cruz, Sherinne Anderson, Jacqui Dubois, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Jill Marie Vallery, Oneika Phillips, Ryan Rankine, Jermaine Rowe, Thierry Picaut, Justin Prescott and Jonathan Andre. The cast at Sadler’s Wells combines companies from both the award-winning Broadway and National Theatre productions of the show. Ahead of their six week run at Sadler’s Wells, the cast will perform at Latitude on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July. Featuring many of Fela Kuti’s most captivating songs and Bill T Jones’s visionary, award-winning staging, FELA! reveals Kuti's controversial life as an artist and political activist and celebrates his pioneering music. Recognised as an icon in the international world of rock and roll, soul, jazz and hip-hop, Fela Kuti combined elements of traditional Yoruba, high life and jazz, giving rise to "Afrobeat". Through his music he condemned military regimes in Nigeria. He was arrested more than 200 times and beaten savagely on many occasions. Despite this he continued to live in Nigeria and produced more than 70 albums during his career. FELA! was choreographed, directed and co-written (with lyricist Jim Lewis) by Bill T. Jones, a leading light in American contemporary dance. Jones choreographed and performed worldwide as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming the Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. The company last performed at Sadler’s Wells in 2004. Jones’ awards include the 2007 Tony Award, the 2007 Obie Award and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Callaway Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening and the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven. FELA! received its world premiere Off-Broadway in September 2008, where it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, before transferring to Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre in November 2009 where its accolades included three 2010 Tony Awards®, for Best Choreography, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Design, and an Astaire Award for Bill T. Jones’ choreography. FELA! is directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, with a book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones, and music and lyrics by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Conceived by Bill T. Jones, Jim Lewis and Stephen Hendel, the design and Tony Award winning costumes are by Marina Draghici, lighting design by Robert Wierzel and the Tony Award winning sound design by Robert Kaplowitz. FELA! is produced in association with Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, Roy Gabay, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Edward Tyler Nahem, Slava Smolokowski, Chip Meyrelles/Ken Greiner, Douglas G. Smith, Steve Semlitz/Cathy Glazer, Daryl Roth/True Love Productions, Susan Dietz/Mort Swinsky, Knitting Factory Entertainment and with Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson. “The dancing is ecstatic, the music lifts the spirits and the stage is alive with movement” The Guardian Release issued by: Sadler's Wells press office LINKS Book tickets to FELA! at Sadler's Wells in London

The UK’s leading dance house, Sadler’s Wells, returns to Latitude Festival for the fourth time on Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 July 2011 with a diverse programme of dance on the Waterfront Stage. Sadler’s Wells presents a programme for Latitude’s Waterfront Stage that reflects both the theatre’s reputation for presenting world class dance in all its forms, and Latitude’s diversity. The Sadler’s Wells line-up features highlights from the full cast of Broadway’s sensational Tony award-winning hit musical, FELA!; two celebrated British companies - hip hop dance from ZooNation Dance Company and contemporary dance from Rambert Dance Company; as well as a UK premiere that fuses dance and music. Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Chief Executive Alistair Spalding comments: Latitude Festival continues to provide us with a platform to present dance to a wider audience beyond our theatre. We are delighted to be returning to thebeautiful surroundings of the Waterfront Stage for a fourth year with an exciting and varied programme of dance which will appeal to all Latitude goers and dance enthusiasts alike. On Sunday 17 July, FELA!’s full cast of 25 performers, will be lead by Olivier Award-nominated Sahr Ngaujah, who returns to the title role at Sadler’s Wells this July, having garnered acclaim for his portrayal of Kuti in New York, Lagos and London. Sadler’s Wells Producer Emma Gladstone says: “I’m thrilled that for our fourth return to Latitude, we’re able to present our most ambitious line-up to date. 25 performers from the smash hit show FELA!, which celebrates the life of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, will wow the audience at Latitude ahead of their six-week run at Sadler’s Wells this summer.” The Sadler’s Wells’ summer show features many of Fela Kuti’s most captivating songs and Bill T Jones’s visionary staging and choreography, revealing Kuti's controversial life as an artist and political activist through his pioneering music. Recognised as an icon in the international world of rock and roll, soul, jazz and hip-hop, Fela Kuti combined elements of traditional Yoruba, high life and jazz, giving rise to "Afrobeat". Through his music he condemned military regimes in Nigeria. He was arrested more than 200 times and beaten savagely on many occasions. Despite this he continued to live in Nigeria and produced more than 70 albums during his career. On both days the programme features an extract from Sadler’s Wells Resident Company ZooNation’s brand new work, Some Like It Hip Hop. With a nod to Billy Wilder’s much loved film Some Like It Hot and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Some Like it Hip Hop is a comical tale of love, mistaken identity, cross-dressing, gender stereotypes and revolution; all played out in ZooNation’s trademark style of hip hop, comedy and physical theatre. This is the company’s first full-length production since the award-winning West End smash hit, Into the Hoods. Directed by ZooNation founder and Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Kate Prince, with original music by Josh Cohen and DJ Walde, the cast includes Tommy Franzen and Lizzie Gough from So You Think You Can Dance, and Teneisha Bonner (StreetDance 3D, Shoes). Some Like It Hip Hop makes its world premiere at the Peacock Theatre in London from Thursday 20 October - Saturday 19 November 2011. The programme for both days also presents Tommi Kitti’s A Trip. Originally premiered in 1995 as a solo for Kitti it has been reworked as a duet and makes its UK Premiere at Latitude Festival. Performed to the music of American blues singer-songwriter John Lee Hooker, A Trip has been chosen for its appeal to both music and dance fans; a perfect piece to fit the ethos of Latitude Festival. “One interesting thing in Hooker’s music is that it does not go anywhere. It creates a moment in which emotionally you go deeper and deeper. For me it is very dramatic, even though there is no drama happening. It is a trip in a second.”Tommi Kitti Concluding Saturday’s line up is the Olivier Award-winning Rambert Dance Company, which celebrates its 85th anniversary this year. For Latitude the Company performs a new Rambert commission; Tim Rushton’s Monolith. Artistic Director of Danish Dance Theatre for 10 years, British-born Rushton returns to the UK to create his first piece for a British dance company, inspired by mystical energies that haunt sites of man-made gathering places. Release issued by: Sadler's Wells press office LINKS Book tickets to FELA! at Sadler's Wells in London

“There should be dancing in the streets. There has never been anything like this.” New York Times Sadler’s Wells’ summer show for 2011 is the Tony Award-winning Broadway dance musical FELA!. A provocative hybrid of dance, theatre and music, exploring the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, the production runs at Sadler’s Wells from 20 July to 28 August 2011. Leading the cast is Olivier Award-nominated Sahr Ngaujah, who returns to the title role, having garnered acclaim for his portrayal of Kuti in New York and London. Featuring many of Fela Kuti’s most captivating songs and Bill T Jones’s visionary staging, FELA! reveals Kuti's controversial life as an artist and political activist and celebrates his pioneering music. Recognised as an icon in the international world of rock and roll, soul, jazz and hip-hop, Fela Kuti combined elements of traditional Yoruba, high life and jazz, giving rise to "Afrobeat". Through his music he condemned military regimes in Nigeria. He was arrested more than 200 times and beaten savagely on many occasions. Despite this he continued to live in Nigeria and produced more than 70 albums during his career. FELA! was choreographed, directed and co-written (with lyricist Jim Lewis) by Bill T. Jones, a leading light in American contemporary dance. Jones choreographed and performed worldwide as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Arnie Zane, before forming theBill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. The company last performed at Sadler’s Wells in 2004. Jones’ awards include the 2007 Tony Award, the 2007 Obie Award and 2006 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Callaway Award for his choreography for Spring Awakening and the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for The Seven. FELA! received its world premiere Off-Broadway in September 2008, where it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, before transferring to Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre in November 2009 where its accolades included three 2010 Tony Awards®, for Best Choreography, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Design, and an Astaire Award for Bill T. Jones’ choreography. FELA! is directed and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, with a book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones, and music and lyrics by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Conceived by Bill T. Jones, Jim Lewis and Stephen Hendel, the design and Tony Award winning costumes are by Marina Draghici, lighting design by Robert Wierzel and the Tony Award winning sound design by Robert Kaplowitz. FELA! is produced in association with Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, Roy Gabay, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Edward Tyler Nahem, Slava Smolokowski, Chip Meyrelles/Ken Greiner, Douglas G. Smith, Steve Semlitz/Cathy Glazer, Daryl Roth/True Love Productions, Susan Dietz/Mort Swinsky, Knitting Factory Entertainment and with Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson. “The dancing is ecstatic, the music lifts the spirits and the stage is alive with movement” The Guardian Press night: Tuesday 26 July 2011 at 7.30pm Release issued by: Sadler's Wells LINKS Book tickets to FELA! at Sadler's Wells in London