"FELA!": FELA KUTI, BILL T. JONES, AND THE MARKETING OF BLACK MASCULINE EXCESS ON BROADWAY

Choreographer Bill T. Jones and Nigerian Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti have both shaped careers that have confounded categorizations, exploring sometimes contradictory spaces of gender, sexuality, race, and national loyalty through performance. This essay considers the recent Broadway show Fela!, a biographical and performative exploration of Fela Kuti and his life, directed and choreographed by Jones, as a means of thinking about the queer inter-connections between these two performers.