Young artists from Southern Methodist University (SMU) will collaborate with the very talented singers and dancers of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) for the third time in Durban to create an exciting and fun-filled evening of entertainment from the “Golden Age of Musicals.”
The
production this year is Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. Set in the South Pacific Islands close to the end of
World War II, the show was chosen for its historical, educational, and social
lessons at a time of great world stress and commitment.
Winner
of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical and
Best Score, South Pacific is
considered to be one of the greatest Broadway musicals and is the only musical
production to have won all four Tony Awards for acting.
It tells
the story of an American nurse, Ensign Nellie Forbush, stationed at a US Naval
base, who falls in love with an expatriate French plantation owner but
struggles to accept his mixed-race children. A second romance concerns a US
Marine Lieutenant who falls in love with a young Polynesian woman from the
islands. The issues of racial prejudice and intermarriage are candidly explored
throughout the musical, which was first performed in April 1949.
The collaborative
efforts between SMU and UKZN began in 2000. At that time, Professor Barbara
Hill Moore came to work with Professors David Smith, Colleen Philp and Andrew
Warburton and their talented singers to offer a bursary for an exceptional
singer wishing to study in America.
Since
then, Professor Hill Moore has worked with faculty and singers throughout South
Africa. In 2005, she brought a group of 22 singers to South Africa to mount a
collaborative concert version of Porgy
and Bess that the singers performed with students of UKZN, University of
Cape Town, Tshwane University of Technology, and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University. In 2011, she brought a class of eight students from SMU to do a
production of Bernstein’s West Side Story
with students and faculty of UKZN and this year, yet another exciting
collaboration involves 11 students from SMU and 37 students of UKZN to present
four performances of South Pacific!
Professor
Hill Moore has given full bursaries to 17 South African singers to come to
America for advanced study since 2000. Among the singers she has brought to
America are Dr Bronwen Forbay, Lionel Mkhwanazi (presently on the UKZN
faculty), Professor Patrick Tikolo (Chair of Voice at UCT), Mhlaba Buthelezi
presently teaching on the faculty at Tshwane University of Technology in
Pretoria, Dr Conroy Cupido (Chair of Voice at North-West University
Potchefstroom), Christiaan Bester, (receiving the Doctorate in Music from the
University of North Texas in May 2014), Maria Jooste, Lucretia Geswinnt, Otto
Maidi, Phandulwazi Maseti, Selby Hlangu, Thandulwazi Ncube and many others,
singing and teaching in South Africa and throughout the world. All are successful and professionally
admirable young artists who are creating, producing and performing
professionally in their communities every day.
With a
company of 50 singers and dancers, the South
Pacific production will be an exhilarating evening. UKZN Professor Jürgen
Bräuninger, Head of Music and Professor Lionel Mkhwanazi from the Opera School
and Choral Academy are the university hosts of this project. Professor
Mkhwanazi also serves as Associate Producer and Chorus Master as he did in the
2011 production of West Side Story.
Professor
Hill Moore will produce the show and conduct the four piece instrumental
ensemble. The Director/Choreographer is Roger Riggle of Washington, DC, who has
done the show many times in the past few years. The stage management and
technical staff will be led by UKZN Dance faculty, Rowin Munsamy and the l technicians
of the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
Admission is free but tickets are required and the audience is advised
to arrive 60 minutes prior to the performance in order to get on the admission
list.
South Pacific will take place in the Elizabeth Sneddon
Theatre with a double cast in four performances on the evenings of June 20 to 22
at 19h00 and on June 23 at 15h00. For reservations contact 031 260 3353 or
email bhmoore@smu.edu
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