Wait a Minim!

Wait a Minim! is a musical review conceived by Leon Gluckman, and co-written by Andrew Tracey, Paul Tracey and Jeremy Taylor in 1961.

The title sometimes given as Wait a Minim

The piece started out as some songs they had written for two musical reviews that played in Johannesburg and in Rhodesia in 1961, from which they then combined the best material into a single musical review called Wait a Minim!. ,

It was first performed in its final form at the Intimate Theatre in Johannesburg in 1962, opening on 17 January, devised and directed by Leon Gluckman with musicians Andrew and Paul Tracey, Kendrew Lascelles and Jeremy Taylor. Designs by Anthony Farmer, musical arrangements and direction by Andrew Tracey, costumes by Heather MacDonald-Rouse, choreography by Frank Staff and Kendrew Lascelles and lighting and design supervised by Klaus Holm.

The production then toured the country for eleven months, visiting Durban’s Alhambra Theatre, Rhodesia, Cape Town, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth before returning to Johannesburg to play at the Alexander Theatre and the Colony in Hyde Park Hotel.

They also went on to perform in Wait a Minim all over the world between 1962 and 1968, Rhodesia, England, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and including 461 shows spanning more than a year on Broadway in New York. With over 50 instruments in the show, many of them African, Andrew Tracey helped educate the world about unique African instruments, including the kalimba.

After more than two years performing in Africa, the show moved to London, where it opened at the Fortune Theatre on April 9, 1964. The play was billed as follows in London:

The London cast consisted of Andrew Tracey Paul Tracey Jeremy Taylor Kendrew Lascelles Michel Martel Zelide Jeppe Jeannette James Dana Valery

Andrew was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson a number of times. This musical performance career put Andrew's ethnomusicology research on hold.

This success was later followed by productions called Minim Bili (1963) and Minim Export (1964-67), also directed by Gluckman.

Sources

Tucker, 1997.

Photographs by photographer David Sim of scenes from Leon Gluckman's production of Wait a Minim, including Michel Martel, April Olrich, Dana Valery and Jane Fyffe in the medieval scene and Jane Fyffe, Dana Valery and April Olrich in the Mexican scene held by NELM: Photograph collection; Photograph collection [Collection: GLUCKMAN, Leon]: 1995. 2. 7. 1. 44. 24.

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