MUSICALS which relate the story of the influential or famous individual provide a potent means of engaging and gaining insight into their lives and milieus – in an entertaining manner.
We sing along and become immersed in their stories.
Evita– based on the life of controversial former Argentinian First Lady Eva Perón– is perhaps one of the most successful in this genre of musicals. Let’s call them biographical musicals.
Hot off the press is that Pieter Toerien is staging a large-scale Evita(with fabulous sets, costumes) at Artscape in October.
Starting off the year of bio-musicals is Mama Africa: The Musical. This musical about the life of the iconic Miriam Makeba – Africa’s Grammy Award-winning artist and civil rights activist opened last night (February 2) at Artscape and is on until February 12. Direction is by Professor Niyi Coker – a Nigerian-born academic and award-winning theatre and film-maker who has lived in the US for 34 years. The cast of 17 and five musicians hail from Cape Town. Choreography is by Thandi Swaartbooi and Zakhele Nkosi.
The Mama Africa project was initiated three years ago, by Coker. It's a collaboration between the University of Missouri, US and UCT, with assistance from the ZM Makeba Trust, a trust set up by Makeba herself to facilitate this kind of project. Coker is currently, the E Desmond Lee Distinguished Professor of African/African-American Studies, Theatre and Cinema Arts at the University of Missouri, Saint Louis.
The production was first staged last year at universities in South Africa (CPUT, University of the Western Cape) and on campuses in the US. The Artscape season is the first leg of a new tour. It's hoped that it will tour to Nigeria and the UK this year. Some of the performers were in the original show and others are newcomers.
Miriam Zenzi Makeba – or Mama Africa as she was widely known – was born in 1932 in a Johannesburg township. She died in 2008 of a heart attack, after performing in a concert in Italy. She was 76.
Her legacy continues. Her personal life was complicated by marriages to Hugh Masekela and Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael. She was catapulted to international fame when she took the lead in the South African musical King Kong(first staged in Joburg in 1959) when it toured to London. Like many of the stars of King Kong, Makeba subsequently went into exile – not a voluntary exile. She was denied a passport to return to South Africa. A much-anticipated adaptation of King Kong is on at the Fugard Theatre in July.
For Mama Africa: The Musical, Coker has chosen to focus on her positivity – “the resilience of the African spirit, master artistry and positive, forward-looking spirit. “The story, in the production, starts from her last night in exile after close to 40 years. This is the night before she takes a flight that would see her return to South Africa, in 1990, when Mandela was released – he invited her to return,” says Coker.
He further explains that the story tells of her restlessness and butterflies she wrestles with in her final interview abroad as a refugee.
“There are also flashbacks to how she came to leave South Africa in the first place and all the significant events in her life from marriages, to her child joining her in exile, to raising grandchildren in exile; burying her only child and two grandchildren in exile.
“All the while hoping to be able to return home and yet watching the Struggle at home from a distance and supporting it,” he says.
Jennifer Pau plays the older Makeba and Simangele Mashazi plays young Makeba.
Coker is grateful from support from his adopted country: “Thanks to the US Consulate in Cape Town for supporting this story here in Cape Town as part of their celebration of Black History Month,” he says.
Also known as National African American History Month, this platform is rolled out every February in the US and increasingly in other countries such as the UK and Canada. It celebrates achievements by black Americans.
– Tickets are R100-R120. Book at www.computicket.com /0861 9158000 or call Artscape on 021 421 7695.