AFRICAN JAZZ OPERA
King Kong given new lease of life
The original all-African jazz opera, which became a runaway success in the late 1950s, elevated Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and others to world stardom
The curtain finally slid open for King Kong, the iconic South African musical. On the opening night of the iconic South African musical King Kong at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town, the carpet was red as blood. The crowd resembled something that hardly comes out these days — the rainbow. Inside the theatre, selfies were snapped, statuses were updated and all social ceremonies were concluded before the curtain rose. Everyone’s eyes were fixed forward, waiting for a cast member to emerge on the stage. Instead, the opening scene popped up from somewhere along the rows of seats. A group of schoolboys in uniform argued, before starting a brawl. The scene set the pace and presented an angle for the narration of the story. The musical is a reimagination of the life of boxing champion Ezekiel "King Kong" Dlamini’s life, whose rise to glory was as hard as his fall from it. It is the tale of a black life, lived and wasted in apartheid SA. The original all-African jazz opera became a runaway s...
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