The award distribution event was held at Radio City Music Hallin New York City. The award ceremony was conducted by Sean Hayes. According to many sources, such as NY1, the musical Fela was nominated for many categories and even grabbed many awards but could not make it for the Best Musical award.
Memphis was declared as the Best Musical. The musical Memphis appeared as a strong contestant for the Best Musical award when the film actress Scarlett Johansson won the Best Featured Actress award for her performance in View From the Bridge. Memphis was written and composed by David Bryan and Joe DiPietro.
Now the interesting thing about Fela is that it had 11 nominations for the 64th Tony Awards. The musical Fela was based on Bill.T. Jones and Jim Lewis and its lyrics and composition were given by Fela Kuti. Fela grabbed three awards:
Best Choreography, Best Costume Design of a Musical and Best Sound Design of a Musical. The Best Choreography award went to Bill T. Jones and best Costume Design went to Marina Draghici. The Best Sound Design of a Musical was given to Robert Kaplowitz.
The musical “Fela” depicts the life of a Nigerian Musician and activist Fela Anikolapu Kuti who became the target of 1,000 soldiers who forced him to stop his public performances at The Shine a popular Lagos nightclub.