Durban
Durban-born R&B crooner Lloyd Cele seems to be a jack of all trades.
The Make it Easy hit maker who, a year ago, showcased his talent as a radio DJ at Vuma FM, is now venturing into yet another field: theatre acting.
Cele has been cast to play the title role in a theatre production based on the life of the “Prince of Motown”, Marvin Gaye, titled Let’s Get it On – The Life and Music of Marvin Gaye.
The show, which is named after one of the icon’s biggest hits, Let’s Get it On, will be at the Joburg Theatre from May 7-16.
“I don’t even know how to feel about this opportunity. Marvin Gaye is one of my biggest role models. I remember growing up in KwaMashu and my grandfather used to play him and other big stars like Michael Jackson, so it is a huge honour to be able to tell his life story on this platform,” Cele said.
Having zero experience in acting is not a big issue for this husband and father-of-two who says having no experience didn’t stop him from becoming a radio DJ – and being “good at it”.
“I’m quite confident I will be able to pull this off. I’m not afraid of taking this chance, I’m the type of person who likes to try something new every time, and I believe that there’s no point in being afraid to do that, because even if you fail, you will have learnt something valuable from that experience,” he said.
Rehearsals for the show start on April 20 and Lloyd says he is happy to be working with experienced theatre producers, Simon Myers and Moira Bennett, from Room 8 Productions, a company based in Australia.
Simon Myers says they are equally excited to be working with Cele.
“We had a number of potential Marvins that we and Claire, from the Joburg Theatre, looked at. After going through the list of auditions done via taped interviews, we happily decided on Lloyd. He has a natural charm and is a brilliant musician. After hearing his audition where he sang Sexual Healing, it was clear we had found our Marvin,” Myers said.
He said the two-hour show would be mostly singing, with about 20 songs and only about 20 minutes of dialogue.
“Lloyd is not pretending to be Marvin or impersonating him. He will be talking about Marvin’s life, some of his challenges, the ups and the downs, his loves and of course, the songs,” he said.
Cele also said that people should not go to the show expecting to see Marvin Gaye.
“No one can ever be Marvin,” he said.
Tickets are available at www.joburgtheatre.com.