Musical Theatre in South Africa
Musical Theatre in South Africa
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Terminology
Musical Theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.
Rock Musical and Rock Opera
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals. Notable examples of rock musicals include Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, Rent, Grease, and Hair. The Who's Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar and other rock operas are sung-through productions with rock music scores and, like operas, have no spoken dialogue; all lines are sung.
Township Musical
"Township musical" is a term used to refer to a uniquely South African form of musical melodrama which evolved in the black urban townships of South Africa.
For more information, see Township musical.
Jukebox Musical
A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known popular music songs, rather than original music. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while others confine themselves to songs performed by one singer or band, or written by one songwriter.
Introduction
Producers
Musicals have been a staple offering in the entertainment industry in South Africa and also a popular choice for schools, student productions and amateur dramatic societies. This discussion considers the production of musicals by professional theatre companies in South Africa.
African Consolidated Theatres
State-funded productions by the Performing Arts Councils (1961-1990s)
Independent producers during the Apartheid era
Des and Dawn Lindberg/CAT Productions
Dissolution of the Arts Councils
Post-Apartheid era
Union of South African Artists
American musicals in South Africa
While the key elements of musical theatre (spoken dialogue, song and dance) are rooted in the theatre of ancient Greece, the origins of the modern musical in the 20th century lie in operetta and music hall. From these emerged an evolved, increasingly-popular art form that was pioneered largely by American composer/lyricists like Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, brothers George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1943, Rodgers and Hammerstein collaborated for the first time with Oklahoma!, producing a piece of theatre that was to shape the nature of musicals for decades to come. This work is widely considered to be the first modern musical, primarily because of the musical's focus on character, plot and drama over novelty acts, speciality acts and witty songs - the conventions of earlier musical entertainments.
Details of known productions of American musicals in South Africa are included below.
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Composer Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and lyrics Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) are arguably the most significant creators of musical theatre in the 20th century. Their eleven collaborations over nearly two decades (alongside their work with other collaborators) produced some of the most successful and popular works in the musical theatre canon. Many of these have been staged in South Africa (and are still popular choices for amateur companies and schools). Works staged in South Africa include:
Productions of work from their other collaborations:
- Show Boat (Hammerstein and Kern)
- The Desert Song (Hammerstein, Romberg, Harbach and Mandel)
- The New Moon (Hammerstein, Romberg, Mandel and Schwab)
Lerner and Loewe
The work of lyricist/librettist Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986) and German-born composer Frederick Loewe (1901-1988) has also proved popular across South Africa. Of their nine collaborations (between 1942 and 1974), five productions have been staged in South Africa:
Kander and Ebb
Composer John Kander (1927-) and lyricist Fred Ebb (1928-2004) collaborated from 1962 until Ebb's death in 2004, and produced 15 musicals together. Their works staged in South Africa include:
Jerry Herman
Stephen Sondheim
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Alan Menken
Other productions
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
March of the Falsettos/Falsettoland
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown/Snoopy!!!
British Musicals in South Africa
Andrew Lloyd Webber
British-born Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-) is one of the most successful composers of musical theatre in the 20th century. His works have been popular in South Africa and have been regularly performed by professional companies and amateur theatre groups across South Africa. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was first presented in South Africa in 1974, just a short while after the production debuted in London. Tim Rice, the librettist, played the role of 'Pharoah' during a short run in 1975. It has been produced many times since. His second major success, Jesus Christ Superstar, premiered in 1971, but was banned in South Africa as it was considered blasphemous. The work was subsequently unbanned and first staged in South Africa in 1991. Performances during the run of the first production in Cape Town in 1993 were disrupted by protesters who objected to the show's portrayal of Jesus. Evita was first staged in South Africa in 1981, and has also been staged several times since. Although first staged in London in 1981, Cats was first presented in South Africa 20 years later. Several members of the South African cast subsequently toured the production internationally. Other works by Andrew Lloyd Webber staged in South Africa include Sunset Boulevard, The Boys in the Photograph, Aspects of Love and The Phantom of the Opera.
Other productions
South African Musicals
King Kong
Ipi Tombi
Gibson Kente
Mbongeni Ngema
David Kramer and Taliep Petersen
Deon Opperman
Other productions
The Lion King
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_theatre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_musical
https://rodgersandhammerstein.com/about/
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