by Roy Berko • Apr 3, 2013
At the conclusion of Fela!, the Afrobeat political awareness musical, now on stage at the Palace Theatre, caskets are carried onto center stage and piled up. On top of the stack of caskets, emblazed with names such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and words such as 'freedom,' 'bullying' and 'oppression,' was a vertical box of death entitled, 'Chardon High School.' Yes, Fela! is filled with music, but it is a wrenching tale of genocide, oppression and death, not only in Nigeria, where the show is set, but across the world, including a Cleveland suburb.