Durban’s Playhouse Company brought us a
joyful festive programme. (Review by Shannon Kenny)
Umang: The Spirit of Kathak - Playhouse Loft Theatre - 12 December
Manesh Maharaj’s Umang: The Spirit of Kathak gave us a celebratory, devotional presentation of grace and rhythm, to the delight and awe of the appreciative audience.
Manesh Maharaj choreographed and led the programme with six dancers who are also his students - and of whom he is rightfully proud.
Each set of dances, linked by a voice-over, took us on a journey from the origins of Kathak as a form of worship and devotion centred around the Hindu god, Krishna; the significance of the various musical rhythmic cycles and symbolic gestures in the movement; Kathak’s further development in the Mughal courts and its continued resonance today for worshipers of Krishna who seek to connect with the divine.
This feast of storytelling about devotion, human and divine, arrived to the stage in colourful costume; movement that was graceful and synchronous, executed with symmetry and precision - and with a generosity of spirit that emanated from each performer. Manesh and his company held our gaze and charmed the audience with every pirouette, every allusion to love and longing, every celebratory flourish.
Choreographing for the polyrhythmic complexity of the music was certainly no mean feat, and here again, Maharaj must be applauded not only for his talent and skill that have produced such artistry but for honouring the musical tradition with which Kathak dance is inextricably enmeshed.
The final dance vignette told the story of Holi - a spring awakening; celebration of new life - depicting the meeting of the mortal and the divine through Krishna’s playfulness.
Umang: The Spirit of Kathak - at times meditative, at times hypnotic, always elegant and dynamic - was truly a treat.
Voices of Home: Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra - The Playhouse Opera Theatre - 13 December
(Marin Alsop)
South Africa’s Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra took to the road this December with concert dates in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, where they not only played to concert hall audiences but also brought the magic of orchestral music to children at hospitals in those cities.
Under the baton of the illustrious Marin Alsop - a pioneering conductor who was the first woman to lead orchestras in the USA, South America, Austria and the United Kingdom - the orchestra mesmerised and thrilled the expectant audience as we journeyed with them across history and continents and concepts of being and belonging.
The programme featured works by Shostakovich, Rachmaninov; five time Emmy award winner and Oscar nominee, US composer Laura Karpman (whose game score credits include Guardians of Middle-earth and Kung Fu Panda 2); and South Africa’s own Abel Selaocoe who is charting a path in contemporary classical music defined by his genre-fluid collaborations and compositions, as well as redefining the traditional role of the cello - and the cellist.
The programme opened with Shostakovich’s very apt Festive Overture (opus 96), just the kind of elegantly boisterous piece - with a fabulous backstory (Shostakovich was given three days to complete the work) - to mark the occassion. We were then treated to Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.2 in E minor, with its lyricism and elegiac themes also leading to a gloriously festive climax.
Laura Karpman’s All American - a work dedicated to and celebrating American female composers - made its South African debut with Mzansi Philharmonic. There is much to excite eager listeners. Along with a few familiar references, the propulsive rhythm is powered by some very non-traditional percussive instruments - silverware for a triangle, pots and pans for tubular bells, a butcher block played with a meat tenderiser and a Le crest 5-quart braised used as an anvil.
For this tour and the performance of his Four Spirits Cello Concerto, Abel Selaocoe was joined by Austrian percussionist extraordinaire, Bernhard Schimpelsberger. Their partnership is a meeting of minds, exquisite talent and skillful, dynamic musicianship. Comprised of four movements, the listener is invited to engage in meditation, reflection, playfulness, introspection and celebration with the orchestra, with the soloists, with each other. Emotionally and rhythmically moving to the final, rousing Malibongwe, Four Spirits is a celebration of our shared humanity.
There is something wonderful about an orchestra filling the opera stage - an orchestra comprised of younger and older skilled musicians, some familiar faces and many more new to me. I look forward to many more Mzansi Philharmonic concerts. Long may they prosper and make beautiful music wherever over the continent and the globe they may travel.
A Christmas Celebration - The Playhouse Opera Theatre - 20 December
After just a week, The Opera theatre was abuzz with an audience eager to feast on a smorgasbord of festive music, from classical oratorio to African jazz, contemporary ballads, Gospel and traditional Christmas carols.
Playhouse Director, Linda Bukhosini’s welcome to the audience was also an encouragement to reflect on the birth of Jesus more than 2000 years ago and the significance of Christ’s presence in the world today through the programme. This was an audience ready to celebrate, guided by MC, Krijay Govender who compered the show with warmth, wit and grace - who was the perfect choice for this occassion.
Ralph Lawson, stage director, brought together performers that included the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, the Playhouse Chorale, the Playhouse Children’s Choir, Tim Moloi, the legendary Don Laka and Ayanda Ntanzi. Added to that was the surprise of the most charming pas de deux by ballroom champions, Sthembile Ndwalane and Nkululeko Khumalo that left the crowd wanting more. This diverse ensemble of performers delighted at every turn.
The Playhouse Chorale, in mellifluous and dramatic a cappella, opened the programme and were followed by the KZNPO, under the baton of Chad Hendricks, with a vibrant medley of Christmas favourites.
Tim Moloi reminded us once more why he is an audience favourite and a consummate musician: the effortless phrasing, the stage presence that is at once commanding and inviting; the warmth he conveys to the audience and fellow performers - and that smile. His solo performances of The Christmas song, which evoked both Nat King Cole and Luther Vandross and You raise Me Up brought the house down. Equally comfortable in an ensemble, listeners were thrilled by the duet, All I ask of you (Phantom of the Opera) with mezzo-soprano Busisiwe Shezi and his appearance with the Durban Chorale.
Pianist, Don Laka, an OG of South African jazz, and his great band brought to the stage an effervescence that belies Laka’s age. The gracious Laka mesmerized the audience with his playing. What a treat to enjoy some of a legacy of performance, composition collaboration and much more besides, that stretches back some fifty-two years. The set culminated with the KZNPO’s strings and brass providing a celebratory flourish to Laka’s work.
The Playhouse Children’s Choir delighted with every appearance and their Silent Night in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu with the Durban Chorale certainly warmed the cockles of many a heart.
Durban Chorale’s dynamic renditions of O Holy Night and Haydn’s The Praise of God accompanied by the KZNPO and featuring Busisiwe Shezi as soloist, reverberated through the auditorium.
Gospel sensation Ayanda Ntanzi had the audience singing and dancing along, his rousing vocals and exhortations to worship enthusiastically received by young and old alike.
The finale featured the Playhouse Chorale, Children’s Choir, the KZNPO and the audience joining in Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Of course the audience was not going to let go of the performers that easily, so an encore by the Durban Chorale - Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus - rounded off the evening.
What a fitting conclusion to a truly joyful celebration of Christmas for all that it is meant to be. – Shannon Kenny
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