Cast
members
from
Fela!
New York,
USA
- The
hit Broadway
play and
Tony
Award-winning
production
of Fela! has
had a
successful,
memorable
and
ground-breaking
run and
comes to an
end in New
York on
January 2,
2011.
Several
members of
the cast and
one of the
producers of
the musical,
Stephen
Hendel, were
honored
guests at
“The Spirit
of Fela!
Celebration”
earlier this
month held
at the
venerable
Players club
in Grammercy
Park. With
honorary
hostess
Grace Blake
on the scene
very early
in the
evening, the
gathering
was
organized by
ICAD-FTL
(International
Caribbean
American
Diaspora –
Film,
Theater &
Literacy
Festival)
and its
event
director,
Misani.
The Fela! cast boasts several talented artists from Africa and its
Diaspora
including
five of
Caribbean
origin.
Nicole
Chantal de
Weever– St.
Maarten,
Gelan
Lambert –
Haiti,
Elasea
Douglas-
Jamaica,
Daniel Soto–
Dominican
Republic and
Oneika
Phillips –
Grenada have
taken the
stage
nightly
along with
their fellow
cast mates
and helped
make the
production
into the
successful
and unique
Broadway
story that
it has
become.
Other cast
members were
on hand for
the
celebration,
including
but not
limited to:
Tennessee
native
Lauren De
Veaux, Iris
Wilson,
Brooklyn’s
Corey Baker
and
Zimbabwe’s
Farai
Malianga.
Fela’s
Oneika
Phillips
(right)
shares
her
passion
for Grenada,
while
Antigua
& Barbuda’s
Derede
Samuel
Whitlock
looks on
Oneika
Phillips is
an
articulate
and
passionate
artist who,
on behalf of
Fela!,
introduced
steelpan
historian,
producer,
and pan man
Dalton
Narine’s “Mas
Man” at the
private
October
screening of
the film -
also held at
the
Players.
She herself
played the
tenor pan
for a few
years while
still in
Grenada and
misses
playing pan
sorely, she
says. Oneika was
introduced
to pan
through a
program of
activities
in her high
school in
1992, where
noted
arranger and
musician
David “Peck”
Edwards was
the
instructor.
She has also
played with
Grenada’s
Angel Harps
Steel
Orchestra
for
panorama.
After about
three years
however, her
academic
(CXC -
Caribbean
Examinations
Council) and
other
commitments
(the Grenada
National
Folk Group
and running
track) soon
demanded
much more of
her
attention.
Honorary
event
hostess
Grace
Blake
(left)
makes
a
point.
At
right
is
Derrick
James,
Grenada’s
Consul
General
As fate
would have
it, Oneika
told When
Steel Talks
(WST), that
within
earshot of
where she
lives in
Brooklyn,
she would
sit on her
stoop when
she returned
home from
her nightly
performances
of the Fela!
show in the
summer time,
and listen
to an
orchestra
not far away
as they
practiced
late into
the night.
She was not
aware of it,
but it was
New York’s
reigning
champion
steel
orchestra,
Sonatas
Steel
Orchestra
which
captivated
her. “Well
they sound
like
champions!”
declared
Oneika after
learning
which
orchestra it
was. “I
really need
to get back
into pan!”
Oneika says
wistfully.
But time,
time, time
is always an
issue for
the
beautiful,
talented and
in-demand
artist.
Nevertheless,
at least one
member of
her family
has managed
to keep pan
as a passion
– her
brother
Manny
Woodruff who
is an active
pan player.
“My brother
is still
deeply
connected
[with pan]
and he tries
to get home
in the
summer and
play in the
panorama
with Angel
Harps.”
(l-r)
John
Martello,
Grace
Blake,
Consul
General
Derrick
James
and
Misani
Two of the event’s key sponsors were the tourism departments of both
Antigua &
Barbuda and
Grenada.
Representing
the latter
were
Grenada’s
Consul
General
Derrick
James and
members of
his staff.
James
himself
happily
boasted to
WST that he
had played
pan on a
tour for
five months
with
David
“Peck”
Edwards in
the group
known as
City
Symphony.
This was in
Edwards’
pre-New
Dimension
Steel
Orchestra
days, where
he is the
band’s
arranger.
The animated
Grenada
consul staff
included the
enthusiastic
and former
pan player
Wilton
Thomas, who
says of
Angel Harps’
veteran
David Seales:
“David is
like a
second
father to
me.” And
the very
calm Trisha
Douglas is a
proud “Woman
on the Bass”
who also
trained
under David
‘Peck’
Edwards, and
like Oneika,
has also
performed in
the Grenada
Steelband
Panorama
with Angel
Harps Steel
Orchestra.
“I’m like,
sort of,
caught ‘in
between’”
Trisha said
laughingly,
referencing
Angel Harps,
and Edward’s
own
orchestra,
New
Dimension.
She is
especially
passionate
about the
steelpan
musicians in
Grenada’s
countryside,
many of them
coming from
the
country’s
high
schools.
Fellow staff
member
Jennie Pascall
laughingly
played
‘peace-maker’
for the
good-natured
bantering
that went
back and
forth among
her
colleagues
and their
respective
band
affiliations.
Poet
Mervyn
Taylor
and
sister,
Brenda (actress)
Antigua &
Barbuda’s
own steelpan
advocate
that evening
was
personified
by David
Fenton who,
though not a
steelpan
musician
himself, is
an ardent
supporter of
the art form
and loves
the steel
orchestras
in general,
but is a
‘Halcyon
man’
(Antigua’s
current
panorama
champion
Halcyon
Steel
Orchestra)
at heart.
And he
ensures that
the
instrument
is properly
and
professionally
represented
whenever the
occasion
demands it
at events he
is connected
with while
in the USA.
These personages were among several other notables who were on hand for
the evening,
which was
formally
opened by Misani. She
relinquished
the
audience’s
attention to
the delivery
of an apt
poem called
“For the
Artist at
the Start of
Day” by
Irish poet
John
O’Donohue,
read by Fela!
cast member
and tap
dancer Gelan
Lambert and
Players’
Executive
Director
John
Martello.
Martello then addressed those present, explaining that he had the
opportunity
to meet with
some members
of the Fela!
cast at the
screening of
the
documentary
film “Mas
Man.” They
were taken
with the
club, wanted
to know more
about it; he
said to them
that they
should have
a reception
for the cast
of Fela!
“You’re part
of Broadway,
and it [Fela!]
is one of
the best
shows in New
York. It’s
a very
exciting
show.”
Martello
went on to
explain that
he did not
realize that
the show was
ending its
Broadway run
so soon
[January
2]. As a
result he
did not have
the time,
particularly
with the
holiday
season on
approach, to
really do
‘what he
wanted to
do’ which,
he said,
“was to have
the whole
cast, the
production
company - to
have a
dinner to
really
salute you [Fela!]
in the right
way.”
Martello
finished by
saying “So I
hope that
you
understand
and
appreciate
that I am
representing
the
membership
of the Club
who want to
thank you
for a superb
show, for
the creative
genius that
was put into
that show;
for
brightening
– for
Broadway
badly needs
brightening
– the whole
year, the
whole
season; and
to
congratulate
you on a
spectacular
run. And
we’re happy
to have
you.”
Fela!
producer
Stephen
Hendel
(right)
talks
about
the cast
Key invited
guests and
sponsors for
the evening
were
acknowledged,
including
the Antigua
& Barbuda
tourist
bureau’s
Derede
Samuel-Whitlock
who was
present with
members of
her staff,
and the
Grenada
Board of
Tourism,
represented
by Grenada’s
Consul
General
Derrick
James.
Oneika
shared her
thoughts and
deep passion
for her home
country of
Grenada.
Both Ms.
Samuel-Whitlock
and Mr.
James also
took turns
in
expressing
their
pleasure in
being
involved
with the
evening’s
celebration,
their
admiration
of the cast,
and briefly
shared
highlights
on the
beauty of
their
respective
countries,
and why they
should be on
the
itinerary of
everyone to
visit.
James noted
that the
Caribbean
was one
place,
regardless
of those who
tried to
divide its
peoples and
singled out
the Fela!
cast as the
example of
that
Caribbean
family which
had also
helped bring
the African
and
Caribbean
people
together,
and declared
this [trend]
should be
continued.
Honorary hostess for the evening was Grace Blake, a well-known trailblazer
and mover
and shaker
within the
New York
Film
diaspora for
several
years. Ms.
Blake
expressed
her ‘awe’
for the
entire cast
of Fela!,
their
accomplishments
and the
play’s
producers,
saying that
more of that
[Caribbean
talent] was
needed,
while
describing
the
Caribbean as
her own
“heart and
soul” (she
was born in
Venezuela
and grew up
in
Trinidad).
Fela! cast
member
Elasea
Douglas
took the
floor next
and shared
her love of
Jamaica, and
appreciation
and respect
for everyone
present.
Then it was the turn of Fela! producer Stephen
Hendel as he commended the
overall cast
of
performers
and their
devotion.
He noted
that at the
time they
were
off-Broadway,
someone had
drawn to his
attention
that the
young cast
members were
destined to
become
leaders in
their
communities.
This had
indeed come
to pass.
“And now, a
year later,
they are
among the
leaders of
their
communities,
and they
have
established
themselves.”
said
Hendel. “…I
don’t think
there has
ever been a
show in New
York that
has become
so bound up
in what
takes place
in the five
boroughs in
New York
City….” The
five members
of the Fela!
cast of
Caribbean
origin have
been
recognized
and even
honored by
their
respective
governments,
and have
themselves
become
‘national
resources.’
‘Holiday
gifts of
love’
for
Haiti’s
children
Explaining
further, he
noted that
for the
year, the
cast was in
much demand
and
routinely
showed up in
support in
their
communities
and at major
corporate
events,
sometimes
individually,
but
especially
as a group
for
benefits,
charities,
galas, and
the like.
“What has
happened in
the year
that we’ve
been on
Broadway is
that the
show has
become
really
known, and
thanks to
these young
people,
become part
of what
happens in
New York.
Hendel paid
brief but
eloquent
tribute to
each of the
cast members
in the
audience.
Attendees
of the Fela!
celebration
had been
invited to
walk with
‘holiday
gifts of
love’ for
the children
Haiti. The
critically
acclaimed
Fela! was
nominated
for eleven
Tony awards,
including
“Best
Musical” and
“Best
Leading
Actor In A
Musical.”
It
subsequently
took home
three Tonys
for “Best
Costume
Design,”
“Best Sound
Design” and
“Best
Choreography.”
It is based
on the life
and work of
legendary
Nigerian
artist,
multi-instrumentalist,
political
and civil
rights
activist and
revolutionary
– the late
Fela Kuti,
who
pioneered
the Afrobeat
music genre.
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