Photo Journal – Wednesday 24th April 2012

FELA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The day starts at 1am Wednesday morning (late Tuesday night) for this post… There are trains that pass by late at night.

I was heading home earlier than usual and heard the horns of the train, so I waited… It’s kind of strange how scary the slow moving headlights of a large monster of a train in the dark, quiet of the night can be.. Eerie..

A “train dude” mounted off the train, and placed these flares along the tracks and stopped any oncoming vehicles…

I found this so cool..

The horns continue to blare as the train passes by… real noise!

Heading to MIT in the light of the morning…

In my HIE class today Patrick Winston spoke to us about the correct way to conduct a panel discussion.. From the seating arrangement (panel geometry) to the way to engage your panel and encourage dialogue.. We talked about Joshua Tenenbaum‘s paper on Bayesian models and probability.  I also found out that every Drop date (last day to drop classes), which would be tomorrow.. a piano is dropped from Baker House at MIT. I hope to see it..

On my way back from class I took this photo because I love this view. I have yet to draw it… maybe when the semester ends I will get the chance to..

It’s lunch time and I am feeling for some food from the food truck. I was late and unable to put my lunch together today. Food trucks lines along the street close to the Media Lab..

I’ll have lunch from here… Asian Bistro..

Long  line.. plenty people, but the line moves very quickly..

Heading back to my office to have lunch..

I bought a pork baguette and Korean Pad Thai I think… I wasn’t sure which one to try so I bought them both..

I am surprised by the look of the pad thai.. it doesn’t look appetizing.. (I am a foodie!).. I taste it, and it’s not any better.. so I decide I will eat the pork baguette.. now that was delicious!!

After lunch I did some work then went to the FabLab to cut some stuff, but again didn’t have much luck… I needed a break and was ready to head to the Pièce de résistance of my day… FELA! I was meeting my friend Mel at the theater.. Time to get going! I jump on my bicycle and head to the station.

Some hurried shots of the Boston Commons as I walk hurriedly to the Theater….

Ok.. I know where I can come take in a movie or two when I want to.. I haven’t been here since November 2010… As it gets warmer.. I will see more of Cambridge and Boston..

There it is ahead!

Inside of the Majestic Theater…

Now inside the auditorium, playbill in hand…

Fela! is a musical with a book by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, based on music and lyrics by the late Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, with additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan Mclean and additional lyrics by Jim Lewis. It is based on events in the life of groundbreaking Nigerian composer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It portrays Kuti in the days when he was the target of 1,000 government soldiers assigned to end his public performances at the legendary Lagos nightclub The Shrine. (Wikipedia)

This show was soooooooooooooooooooo fantastic, I can’t put it in words… The main character was engaging, funny, athletic, had a great voice, and was a great dancer… a mover… His supporting dancers… OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! The men strong, athletic, singers, dancers… the women… hmmm! athletic, sensual, dance, dance, and more dance!! You have to see this show!!

The costuming was also A+…

Fela’s mother in the show (Melanie Marshall) had the voice of an angel! I love singing, but it doesn’t love me.. She had a voice of pure honey… How do you lower your voice and volume as though it’s the end of a song, then in the same breath pick up again and end on a long, loud note..?!!!! I do not know! but she did it! she did it!! It was amazing! She was amazing!

Costumes… GREAT!!!

Do your thing Fela!

The end of the show.. All performers deserving of standing ovations!!! Thanks for making my night, my week, my time here in Boston.. Awesome band too!!

Close of the show (Fela’s mother in the spotlight).. Those from the cast who I saw and remember seeing were:

Sahr Ngaujah – (Fela Kuti) – A theater director and actor of Sierra Leonean descent, US born, living in Amsterdam

Melanie Marshall – Funmilayo (Fela’s mother) – best voice of the night… British born, of Barbadian (Bajan) descent

Paulette Ivory (Sandra) – has a sweet voice.. LA-based, British born

Rasaan-Elijah Green (Djembe) – great drummer and dancer

Gelan Lambert – (JK) – The tap dancing machine and Fela’s buddy – of Haitian descent, graduate of The Juilliard School

Thanks all for a great night again! After such a visual, musical, artistic, and cultural high, I returned to my office.. did some more work, and headed home… no train will be seeing me tonight..

FELA ROCKS!!!!

This work by Vernelle Noel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.