The KZN Showbiz Spotlight with Billy Suter
Billy Suter, respected arts editor and theatre reviewer, presents his weekly entertainment wrap
Theatre
PlayClub (4 star rating)
Hearty applause for Joburg-based American Drew Bakker for successfully launching his PlayClub in Durban last Sunday. It is a novel initiative, already a hit in Gauteng and Cape Town, which encourages theatre-lovers to enjoy readings of plays by a star cast.
The launch at Durban’s Club Altitude in Stamford Hill was with a reading of Peter Morgan’s The Audience, which originally starred Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. It is a clever play unfurling imagined agendas during the royal’s weekly private meetings with her Prime Ministers over the decades.
The sold-out reading (only R50 a head) made for a wonderful, casual afternoon in which local actors - including standouts Clare Mortimer (Queen Elizabeth), Steven Stead (Harold Wilson) and Michael Gritten (Winston Churchill) - entertained with a witty and insightful script. The audience followed on printout copies of the script, or online on tablets or laptops.
Good news is that this is now to be a monthly event - and February’s reading choice is Private Lives, Noël Coward’s 1930s comedy of manners.
El Blanco: Tales of the Mariachi (4 star rating)
A highlight of the 2015 Hilton Arts Festival - the smart and sassy one-hander, El Blanco: Tales of the Mariachi, starring James Cairns - is to be staged at the Schlesinger Theatre at Michaelhouse, Balgowan, at 7.30pm today (February 3).
Tickets (R100) can be booked at www.tickethut.co.za/michaelhouse.
A delightful blend of amusing storytelling and fun music, the show meshes stories and songs based on everything from Mexican creation myths and ancient Egyptians to, er, George Clooney.
Pictured below: James Cairns in El Blanco: Tales of the Mariachi, to be staged at the Schlesinger Theatre at Michaelhouse, Balgowan, at 7.30pm today (February 3).
One Hit WonderFul
A fun show celebrating artists who shot to No 1 on world charts and then more or less vanished without trace is to be staged today and tomorrow (February 3 and 4) at The Dive at the Hexagon Theatre in Pietermaritzburg.
Titled One Hit WonderFul, it will be presented at 7pm for 7.30pm both nights, doors opening at 6.45pm. Visitors are encouraged to take along their own food, but no drinks as a cash bar is available at the theatre.
Tickets cost R100 and booking is at [email protected].
The show teams Sandra Styles, Daniel Rossouw, Ryan Calder,Tammy Calder and Katherine McClelland. Direction is by Peter Mitchell.
Music
Best of Swing (4 Star rating)
Having opened last weekend at the cosy Rhumbelow Theatre in Umbilo’s Cunningham Road - and scheduled for 8pm today and tomorrow (February 3 and 4) as well as 2pm and 6.30pm on Sunday (February 5) - Best of Swing, by popular Durban band Platform jazz, is a winner.
Featuring guest vocalist Shelley McLean, it’s a joyful showband entertainment including Sweet Georgia Brown, Mack the Knife, Hello Dolly, Big Spender and a lyrically reworked My Favourite Things, among other nuggets of nostalgia.
Tickets cost R150. Book at Computicket or call Roland at 082 499 8636.
Tennis & Tunes
The Windsor Tennis Club - opposite Glenwood Boys’ High School in Durban - continues its Monday Tennis & Tunes on February 6, offering tennis (4pm to 6pm) and tunes (6pm to 9pm), with Calli Thomson singing and playing keyboards on February 6.
Calli offers hits associated with Fleetwood Mac, Norah Jones, Dixie Chicks, Nina Simone, Sting, Bonnie Raitt and Diana Krall, among others.
Grab a wors roll and a drink, and listen to some great music for R50 (a fee that includes you enjoying a game of tennis if you so wish).
Note that every Monday a different music act is featured. More info from 082 499 8636.
Pictured below: Calli Thomson performs at Tennis & Tunes in Glenwood, Durban, from 6pm to 9pm on Monday (February 6).
Up Close and Personal (3 star rating)
Singer-guitarist Barry Thomson, of The Reals band, performs his Up Close and Personal solo show this Sunday (February 4) at 2pm and 6.30pm, at the new Rhumbelow Theatre branch at Tina’s Hotel, Kloof.
It’s a fine programme, showing Barry’s versatility and sketching his background. Expect to hear songs by Rodriguez, Mark Knopfler, the Eagles, Neil Diamond, Jethro Tull, Eric Clapton and Neil Young.
Tickets cost R150. More details from 082 499 8636.
Shabaka and The Ancestors
Pinetown’s Rainbow restaurant, 23 Stanfield Lane, is to present the six-member Shabaka and The Ancestors from 1pm on Sunday (January 5).
Tickets cost R120 to see this musical collaboration between UK-based saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and some top local jazz talents.
Kgethi Nkotsi Quartet
The versatile Kgethi Nkotsi Quartet performs at The Jazzy Rainbow, 93 Smiso Nkwanyana Road, Morningside, Durban, as part of the Concerts SA initiative that supports live music in communities.
The band will perform popular and original compositions from 7pm on Saturday (February 4).
Kgethi - accompanied by Freeman Gumede on bass, Zoe Molelekwa on piano and Stanley Matlou on drums - will play jazz standards and some of his own compositions.
Movies
Nabucco
My pick of the movies opening today is one for opera-lovers… the filmed Met Opera stage production of Verdi’s Nabucco, starring PlácidoDomingo.
It is set for screenings at Umhlanga’s Cinema Nouveau at 5pm Saturday (February 4), 2.30pm Sunday (February 5) and 11.30am on Tuesday (February 7).
Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine. Liudmyla Monastyrska is cast as Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Barton is the heroic Fenena.
See the trailer of this grand opera below:
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