(Paul du Toit, Lindy Abromowitz & Anton Luitingh)
They manage to infuse most of their numbers with
satirical comment about South Africa’s many challenges – a delight to laugh at
them rather than stressing about them, albeit for an hour or so. (Review by
Caroline Smart)
Offbeat Broadway, now
in its fifth edition which is subtitled Behaving
Badly, recently played the Hilton Arts Festival and was a pure delight from
start to finish.
Ably directed by Alan Committie, the
show features Anton Luitingh, Paul du Toit and Lindy Abromowitz, the highly
talented threesome who started the format 19 years ago, Casually dressed with
Luitingh mainly seated at the grand piano, they massacre and mistreat Broadway
shows.
As they say: they’re going to
“slaughter every holy cow” and proceed to do just that! Especially Cats, which they really pulled apart!
The stage is dominated by a large
screen which carries some hilarious visuals while the programme bounces merrily
along as they give well-known and highly popular numbers from Broadway musicals
their own special treatment.
They manage to infuse most of their
numbers with satirical comment about South Africa’s many challenges – a delight
to laugh at the problems rather than stressing about them, albeit for an hour
or so.
Among the fun and nonsense, there
were some very beautiful and powerfully-handled numbers such as You Took My Life With You from Ghost The Musical and Tomorrow Will be Mine which represented
a tribute to cathedrals as well as the poignant and heart-rending Bui Doi
– They Are All Our Children, Too from Miss Saigon.
Another impressive section dealt
with the full history of the Broadway musical – starting in 1927 with
productions such as Show Boat, Anything
Goes, Oklahoma and South Pacific
running through to Kinky Boots and Frozen in 2017.
If this show comes your way, don’t
miss it! – Caroline Smart
For more information on the Hilton
Arts Festival visit www.hiltonfestival.co.za
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