King Kong

by Aldo Brincat. A slapstick spoof on the movie of the same name. Performed by Brincat in Durban in 2001.

SEE: King Kong (musical)

AND

A jazz musical by Harry Bloom (book), Pat Williams (lyrics) and Todd Mitshikiza**** (Nguni lyrics and music). Musical about the rise and fall of heavyweight boxer Ezekiel Dhlamini. The producer was Leon Gluckman, musical director Stanle (Spike) Glasser, the choreographer Arnold Dover and the designer Arthur Goldreich. The facilitators of the production were Clive and Irene Menell. A production for Union Artists, it had the Anglo-American Corporation as a major sponsor. Written in (?*)1957, first performed in the Wits Great Hall in 1959. The production starred trumpeter Hugh Masekela, Nathan Mdledle in the lead role, band vocalist Miriam Makeba, Joe Mogotsi and Peggy Phango. Toured the country, playing in **, **, ** and other venues. One of the key theatrical events in the development of South African theatre, it has had its share of controversy. On the one hand it was seen as, and almost certainly was, an exploitation of black talent by white entrepreneurs, and a presented a white-washed European version of black community life. On the other hand it gave many performers access to professional theatre, launched the careers and made stars of many performers, some of them in the international arena (e.g. Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela), and it contributed powerfully to the development of the so-called “township musical” tradition utilized by Gibson Kente, Sam Manghwane and others, and even the eventual style and form of so-called “black theatre” and “protest theatre”. King Kong was unsuccessfully revived in the 1980s, while an attempt to revive it again in 2001 at the Spier Festival in Stellenbosch floundered on copyright and other issues. Text published by Collins in 1961 as King Kong – An African Jazz Opera. A version of the text by *** first published Fontana Books 1961, a second version by *** published by *** in 19**. There is also a book about the show by Mona Glasser called King Kong. A Venture in the Theatre (Cape Town: Norman Howell, 1960). (Tucker, 1997)

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