Mr Paljas

Mr Paljas is a stage musical by Harry Bloom with lyrics by Beryl Bloom and music by Stanley Glasser (1926-2018).

Not to be confused with the Afrikaans film Paljas

Original text

According to Chris Albertyn's post on the blogspot ElectricJive[1], the piece tells the "musical story of dwindling fish stocks, lonely wives, and ‘bergies’ (tramps) being appointed to run the Village Management Board. The tramps start levying outrageous taxes on the villagers so they can build a ‘lighthouse in the sky’".[2]

(The word paljas means "jester", "buffoon" or "clown" in Dutch and Afrikaans. It can also be used as a verb, meaning "to cast a spell".)

Performance history in South Africa

1962: The musical had its first stage performance under the auspices of Union Artists, opening at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town on 12 January with an "all-coloured" cast of 30, directed by Fred Engelen. Among the cast members were Danny Joseph ("Mr Paljas"), Maud Damons, Thandie Klaasen, Gerry Arendse and Colenso Mama.[3]. Though the piece opened in the Labia to some acclaim, the later run in community halls on the Cape Flats received little attention.

In the same year, the sound track was recorded by Gallotone (GALP 1207) on Vinyl as an LP album at Manley van Niekerk Studios, Cape Town and printed by Record Pac. Directed by Stanley Glasser and designby David Marais, with an orchestra that included musicians Dudu Pukwana, Nick Peterson, Cornelius Kumalo, Joe Mal, Columbus Joya, Chris McGregor, Blyth Mbityana and Dennis Mpali.