Sarafina!

by Mbongeni Ngema. An enormously successful musical, set at Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto, where in 1976 students assembled to protest against Afrikaans as the only medium of instruction. Through narrative, song and dance, Sarafina! follows the activities of a fictional class and, in particular, one girl named Sarafina, who inspired her classmates with her commitment to the struggle against apartheid. It starred 20 dancers and singers and featured Leleti Khumalo as “Sarafina”, it was originally directed and choreographed by Ngema, with music by Ngema, and Hugh Masekela. It opened at the Market Theatre in 1986, then went to America, with a second company touring Europe and Japan. It was nominated for and won numerous awards over the years.

Other rpoductions:

2012: A student production in the Breytenbach Theatre, Pretoria, by Department of Performing Arts (Musical Theatre) at the Tshwane University of Technology, directed by Josias Dos Moleele, with Sidney Agnew and Letshego Seekoe as choreographers, Rostislava Pashkevitch as the Musical Director, assisted by Pule Makona and sound design by Freddy Malesa. Produced by Vusabantu Ngema.

The text was published by ** in 198*, and a film was made of it in 1992 by director Darryl Roodt and producer Anant Singh, featuring Leleti Khumalo and Whoopie Goldberg.