The American creators of Afrobeat musical Fela!, which is due to open at the National Theatre next week, are at the centre of a multi-million pound copyright claim, though the prestigious London venue seems confident the production will go ahead.
The men behind the musical that tells musician Fela Kuti’s life story are being sued by Carlos Moore, an author who claims they used his biography Fela Fela: Cette Putain de Vie as a source for the show without paying him an agreeable sum of money.
In a lawsuit filed in New York on Monday, Moore claims he was offered $4,000 for the rights to his biography in 2007 but turned down the offer, which he deemed “grossly insufficient”, instead seeking “an advance and participation in the royalty pool”. He claims that when “no further offer was ever made”, Fela! playwright Jim Lewis and director Bill T Jones continued to use his biography without his consent.
Following the show’s Tony Award-winning Broadway success, he is seeking damages of $5million. Moore’s lawyers are also seeking to block both the Broadway and the National Theatre production along with any subsequent productions.
A spokesman for the National Theatre, where Fela! is currently previewing before facing the press on 16 November, confirmed today that “the originating producers of Fela! have told us they have all the rights necessary for the show.”
Fela!, which opened on Broadway in November 2009, tells the story of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, who, inspired by his mother, devoted his life to music and the struggle for freedom and human dignity. It runs at the National’s Olivier theatre this winter in rep with the Rory Kinnear-led production of Hamlet.
MA