DURBAN’S Sandy Bigara – with her passion for the arts – is known for many talents on stage but this festive season she shows off her kids’ theatre skills with her production Rapunzel which opened in Durban yesterday.
“I’ve followed the original story line but have added a few humorous lines here and there where pos-sible,” Bigara begins to explain.
“Edmund, Rapunzel’s father, is based on Sir Percy Percy from Blackadder… hopefully he and his wife, Me’Dear, will get a few laughs! Princess Kitty, played by Savanna Bigara, is also very cute and always getting tangled in Rapunzel’s hair.”
The cast members are Chanel Meager in the role of Rapunzel; Savanna Bigara in the role of the young Rapunzel, and then as Rapunzel’s cat; Kimeshan Kandan plays dashing Prince Mortimer; and the “spellbinding” Ndalo Mchunu plays the evil Crone.
“I purposefully allowed my children to be present for the auditions… when Chanel Meager walked into the room I swooned. She is the adult version of my younger Rapunzel and she is a natural ‘Princess’ she even has very, very long hair! Ndalo Mchunu was phenomenal in her rehearsal, Savanna and Kelsey, my kids, looked at no one else.
“Kimeshan Kandan was the last to audition, he was highly recommended by his lecturer – he has just completed his Bachelors in Drama at UKZN. He was so foppish, silly, gorgeous and filled the stage! The children will love him to bits and the Mom’s won’t mind a bit of ‘eye candy’ either… wink wink,” she joked.
We asked Bigara what were some of the stage gimmicks to be expected at the show.
“Gawsh! I wish I could tell you my big surprise… But I can tell you there will be an action song, a best-dressed prize, a crazy treasure hunt and one major surprise – never been done before inside the theatre!” she said, adding: “The big surprise is keeping me up at night. It will be insane and children will want to come back to do it again and again… I’ll give you a clue… it involves creating a fun indoor storm of epic proportions!” she said. Rapunzel will be running at The Catalina Theatre; Wilson’s Wharf; until January 4. Shows are daily at 2pm on weekdays and 11am Saturdays.
The Catalina Theatre has now partnered with John Dory’s for adult shows and Casadena SPUR on Wilson’s Wharf for children’s shows. Options are the Rapunzel show, plus Spur meal and harbour boat ride; or just the show and a meal, or the show and boat ride or just the show.
• Ticket prices are: Adults show for R100, or show and boat ride for R145, or show and lunch for R160 or show, lunch + boat ride for R205. Children: show for R80, or show and boat ride for R105, or show and lunch for R130 or show, lunch and boat ride for R155. Tickets are available through Computicket.