As a title, Now I’m Fine does a lot of heavy lifting. It implies an ordeal, lets you know it’s in the past, and even tells you how it ended—from setup to spoiler in three short words.
This autobiographical concert by musician and writer Ahamefule J. Oluo (think of it as a solo show with 16 backing musicians, including the glistening, dexterous voice of okanomodé SoulChilde) is, in fact, a record of an ordeal that descends to depths that are as startling as they are grim. But Oluo has a stand-up comedian’s heart and deploys jokes like a team of hopeful hot-air balloonists trying to give a little lift to a story that just keeps getting heavier.
An early version of Now I’m Fine, performed at Town Hall in 2012, begins on a city bus where a passenger whose face has “the kiss of meth” asks Oluo why he seems familiar…
