Ndaba’s career in full bloom on set of King Kong
Actress is playing Petal in musical
Former Uzalo star Sihle Ndaba has landed a role in the hit musical King Kong. Ndaba, who portrayed Smangele Maphumulo on Uzalo, left the show late last year.
The trained stage and television actress resurfaces in King Kong, which is currently running at Fugard Theatre in Cape Town.
The musical is a story of heavyweight ’50s boxing champion Ezekiel Dlamini, whose self-appointed ring name was King Kong.
Ndaba joins the cast as Petal, one of King Kong’s girlfriends.
Petal was madly in love with King but King was not into her. Petal decides to leave King and find love somewhere [else].
The TV star said she fell in love with King Kong while she was at Tshwane University of Technology. She said she has been obsessed with the show since then.
“I always loved King Kong and wanted to be a part of it. I heard that they were looking for Petal, a role that was played by Lerato Mvelase. I auditioned and got the part, and my dream came true.”
Mvelase joined The Color Purple which is currently running at the Joburg Theatre.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of such an iconic show. The rehearsals were not easy because I had to rehearse alone before joining the cast,” she said.
The Mpumalanga-born artist said she left Uzalo because she was looking for a new challenge.
She wanted to explore both theatre and film – locally and internationally.
“I won’t miss Uzalo because I wanted to explore other things. Acting in a soapie is demanding, and I had fun portraying Smangele, tackling some of the most interesting storylines.”
Ndaba, who will exit the soapie next week through the death of her character, said she was looking forward to watching Smangele’s funeral scenes on February 16.
After leaving Uzalo, Ndaba shot a local film called Love Lives Here. She also acted on Inkaba and Room 9.