STAGE: Mad About the Boys – Rhumbelow Theatre, Umbilo
Final performances at 7.30 tonight (March 4) and 2pm and 5pm tomorrow (March 5)
REVIEW BY BILLY SUTER
SOME great things are coming from East London’s Wela Kapela touring theatre company, founded in 2018 by Amanda Bothma to create opportunities for Eastern Cape performers to display their craft to a wider audience. The production team has scooped at least eight awards and created some 16 or so works, ranging from musicals and cabaret to drama and children’s theatre, and it is wonderful to see it expanding its reach at a rapid rate.
Even more wonderful is that Durban audiences are being treated to some of Wela Kapela’s fine offerings, the Rhumbelow Theatre in Umbilo having recently presented two of the company’s arts festival favourites – Alison Hillstead in Julie Andrews Uncut!, written and directed by Amanda Bothma, and Kerry Hiles’s terrific Eva Cassidy tribute.
Now we have, for this weekend only, the delicious and de-lovely Mad About the Boys, also penned and directed by Bothma, which was a hit at both the Grahamstown and Hilton arts festivals.
It is a sophisticated and simply swellegant romp through the music and memories of three greats, at their peak in the 1920s and 1930s: quintessential Englishman Noel Coward, dapper American playboy Cole Porter and debonair Welshman Ivor Novello.
Depicting all three of these men, whose wit and work long dominated film and theatre, is a huge talent in young Daniel Anderson, whose opening performance in Durban last night drew a capacity, highly enthusiastic audience.
Remaining Durban performances are at 7.30 tonight (March 4) and 2pm and 5pm tomorrow (March 5), and lovers of sophisticated cabaret would do well to treat themselves.
Backed brilliantly on piano by Germaine Gamiet, and performing on a stage immaculately dressed to depict a posh living room, Anderson works from a fine script to deftly mesh anecdotes and facts, changing accents and voices, in between delivering a wide variety of songs, by turns comical, upbeat and plaintive.
Wearing a tuxedo and with his hair slicked back, a martini occasionally at hand, he captivates throughout his 60 minutes in the spotlight (yep, no interval). He has a lovely voice, crystal-clear diction (a must when lyrics are mostly witty and fast) and delights with a kaleidoscope of camp gestures and dance moves.
Noel Coward’s dance-hating Nina from Argentina is here, as are Mrs Worthington and her beastly daughter. Not to forget the mad dogs and Englishmen, and that choice assortment of colourful guests at a marvellous party.
Among the Cole Porter offerings are Another Op’nin’, Another Show and I Get a Kick Out You, as well as the jolly Anything Goes and Be a Clown, a fun nod to the hugely popular Kiss Me Kate and, as a finale item, a lovely rendition of Everytime We Say Goodbye
Ivor Novello hits in the show include his first success, Keep the Camp Fires Burning, and the every bit as appealing We’ll Gather Lilacs.
Daniel Anderson is truly a talent on the rise and it is good to report that he has just been nominated for a Fleur du Cap Award for his performance in a newer one-man musical show, Vincent, which is to be seen at the Rhumbelow Theatre from April 14 to 16. Book now!
Mad About the Boy’s atmospheric lighting is in the capable hands of Barry Meehan and the show’s good sound is by Andre Norden. Well done, all!
Tickets for the show cost R190 each. Seating is at tables (take a picnic basket but you have to buy all beverages at the theatre pub). Booking is at Computicket or by mailing roland@stansell.za.net
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WIN SHOW TICKETS… WIN SHOW TICKETS… WIN SHOW TICKETS
The lucky winner of four tickets to see Mad About the Boys in Durban, carried in an earlier version of this post, is Wesley Terblanche. Congrats!
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.....SoSuterBill..... 