“Is This Love,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” “No Woman, No Cry” and all the rest of Bob Marley’s platinum-selling catalogue of songs transition effortlessly to a high-energy musical stage show. Written by Billy Elliot’s Lee Hall and directed by Clint Dyer, a leading figure at London’s National Theatre, the two-and-a-half hour musical biopic tells how the Jamaican performer rose from poverty to international renown, selling more than 20 million records throughout his career. Starring Arinzé Kene, the Nigerian-born British actor and playwright who has become one of the West End’s brightest stars, Kene epitomizes Marley in look, sound and presence. The show is at times light on dialogue, but with its arresting choreography and clever staging—a video screen frames the action, offering pops of color and images of swaying palm trees—it covers all the important elements of boy meets girl, political unrest and overcoming adversity, and certainly captures the spirit passion of reggae. —Bridget Arsenault