Best of musical theatre
SHOW FEATURES SA, WEST END, BROADWAY PERFORMERS Proceeds from the production will go to the Kolisi Foundation.
Stars from the West End, Broadway and South Africa come together for Finding The Light – An Evening With Musical Theatre Stars, a theatrical highlight so far this year.
Hosted by comedian Marc Lottering, the musical production is accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of resident conductor Brandon Phillips.
“Tickets are flying out the door, so make sure you get your tickets booked for this unique production, which will be presented for six performances only,” says Jessica Ross, the show’s executive producer and co-founder of Finding The Light Foundation.
Initiated by the foundation, this is a concert-style celebration of some of musical theatre’s best loved shows, with 100% of net proceeds going towards supporting the work of the Kolisi Foundation.
“With the production being just weeks away, we are thrilled to share that audiences can enjoy hits from RENT, The Greatest Showman, Frozen, The Colour Purple, Into The Woods, Phantom Of The Opera, Annie, Guys & Dolls
and Dear Evan Hansen.
There are also beautiful favourite songs from Sunset Boulevard, Chess, Little Shop of Horrors, Company, West Side Story
and,” says the show’s producer Daniel Galloway.
The dazzling international soloist line-up comprises Kim Criswell (Olivier-award nominated for Annie Get Your Gun; 3 Penny Opera, opposite singer Sting; Cats);
Michael D Xavier (Joe in Sunset Boulevard opposite Hollywood film star Glenn Close; Joe Bradley (Roman Holiday
– The
Musical;
ITV’s co-founder of the Finding the Light Foundation David Habbin,
(West Side Story, Les Misérables, Amici Forever) and Broadway star Nikki Renée Daniels (Company, The Book of Mormon, Les Misérables, Hamilton).
They join South Africa’s musical stars Jonathan Roxmouth
(Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Cats), Lynelle Kenned
(West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Orpheus in Africa), Tshepo Ncokoane (Janice Honeyman’s
Peter Pan Pantomine, Kinky Boots, We Will Rock You – The Musical World Tour); and Lucy Tops (Kinky Boots, Funny Girl, The Romantix).
“We are also delighted to announce our ensemble of 15 brilliant young talents featuring student performers from Cape Town’s Waterfront
Theatre School and Lamta,” says Daniel Galloway, who is producing the event alongside Ross. “From the Waterfront Theatre School, we welcome William Young, Asanda Mngadi, Jamie Peters, Phiwe Ngqangweni and Saskia Bormans,” he says.
“The performers joining us from Lamta are Benjamin Wood, Euan Frankim, Matt Blerk, Peta Duckitt, Alessia Gironi, Grace Brown, Nikita Latimer, Sash Duffy, Keely Crocker and Michiel Bester.”
The production will be staged by the UK’s Paul Robinson (Olivier nominated Singing In The Rain), with creative direction by David Habbin (West Side Story, Les Misérables), musical supervision by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder (West Side Story, King Kong) and musical direction by Dawid Boverhoff (Kinky Boots, Funny Girl, Sound of Music).
The brainchild of Ross and husband David Habbin, Finding The Light – An Evening With Musical Theatre Stars is the culmination of a coordinated international fundraising drive for the Kolisi Foundation.
The campaign was launched with a star-studded gala dinner with Siya and Rachel Kolisi in London on 14 March, and will include a pledge campaign for the foundation running alongside the show.
The production will also bring together the community through two out-reach initiatives: tomorrow morning development organisations and the academic community will come together at the Artscape in Cape Town to share knowledge and best practice on addressing the extremely high levels of trauma in communities.
On Friday, 250 beneficiaries of these organisations will have the opportunity to experience the magic of theatre for the first time.
The Kolisis set up the foundation in 2019 to use their influence to change the stories of inequality in South Africa, and see communities thriving.