Back to school with a gorgeous duo

Published Jul 17, 2012

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A 31-year-long friendship between popular entertainers Lisa Bobbert and Tonya Koenderman blossomed into the musical celebration, Convent Girls, which makes its way back to the local stage this week.

The cabaret returns for a season at the Rhumbelow Theatre with the duo paying tribute to their years at a Rosebank convent.

Koenderman explained how they met and tells us more about the show: “We met when we were 13 years old at St. Theresa’s Convent. Lisa used to sit behind me and steal my pencils,” she laughs.

“We have so many stories to tell so the show is an opportunity for us to speak about a 31-year journey in friendship. We share some funny stories about attending a convent school, the boys we liked, the little shows we put on at school – just to tick the nuns off – and the tricks we got up to,” she recalls.

Koenderman has been hailed by critics as “one of the hottest properties on the cabaret circuit”, and “a pint- sized dynamo”.

After 23 years in show- business, there is no stopping her now as she continues to wow audiences both locally and abroad.

Koenderman started her career fresh out of drama school with Kevin Feather’s cabaret, The Dooh Wah Girls in 1990, which ran on and off for four years. Other cabarets under her belt are We 3 with Gordon Mulholland and Paul Andrews, as well as the Cape Town hits, Juke is King, Jive to the Juke, and Wurlitzer. More recently she teamed up with Anne-Marie Clulow to create All of Woman and Shake Your Bootie, both of which have been performed to packed houses throughout SA.

In 2007 she co-directed and starred in Convent Girls with Bobbert which was was nominated for three Mercury Durban Theatre Awards.

With cheeky songs such as Bette Midler’s Otto Titsling and He Had it Coming from Chicago, the friends combine their unique talents to become a force to be reckoned with, belting out other well-known favourites such as Mack The Knife, Meadowlands, Pata Pata, New York New York and more.

• Convent Girls runs from Friday to July 29. Tickets: R100. Discounts for pensioners and block bookings of eight or more, Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday matinee only at R75. Book at Computicket or call 031 205 7602.

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