Fela! : Diaspora in Three Moves

Abstract The author moves from Oakland, California to New York City and the Broadway stage in Chapter 2, “Fela!: Diaspora in Three Moves.” Here Johnson analyzes the Broadway show Fela!, specifically its run from 2009 to 2011, to explore the diasporic strategies of display used to create and market this musical. The chapter considers the role dance plays in the production, asking the simple but wrought question: What makes this show and its dance “African”? In Fela!, diaspora moves on three different registers: choreographically, affectively, and commercially. Further, the operations of diaspora in these three variants reveal the malleable nature of diaspora; in each, diaspora is evoked to resolve a diverse set of affective and economic imperatives. Informed by interviews with members of the ensemble, the show’s producers, and participant observations of its audience, Johnson argues that Fela!’s popularity and palatability rest on its framing of the African diaspora as both distinctly Black and racially transcendent.