DURBAN playwright Edmund Mhlongo wants the people of Joburg to see what they are missing in their theatres.
Edmund (57) will stage his historical musical about King Shaka’s mother, Queen Nandi for the first time in Gauteng since he created it in 2018.
The musical, titled Nandi The Musical, will be staged at the Soweto Theatre from Thursday, 25 January to Sunday, 28 January.
Edmund, who is the founder of KwaMashu Community Advancement Projects (KCAP), told Daily Sun that Joburg theatres are not doing musicals because they're expensive but produce versatile actors.
“This year, we decided to start the year by showing Joburg what they're missing in their theatres as many of them are focusing on drama theatre.
“I understand why they're ignoring musicals because they're expensive and can cost about R800 000 a week to put together,” he said.
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Edmund, who also created Mambazo the Musical about the history of the five-time Grammy award-winning isicathamiya group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, said although it's expensive to create a musical, it has advantages for actors.
“It makes actors multi-talented and able to act, sing and dance while they're working with the band unlike drama theatre where actors are just focusing on the acting.
“I wish government invests more money in musicals. Maybe we will see other theatres doing them,” he said.
In 2020, Nandi The Musical was scheduled to be performed in New Orleans, New York and Chicago in the US, but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
“This year, we wanted to perform it in Joburg before we take it to the US. We're talking to Chicago, and we might fly there this year.
“We were also staged to perform in New Orleans but when we are talking to them now, it seems they haven't fully recovered from Covid-19 lockdowns,” he said.
Edmund said that the musical will have the original members which include actress Ntokozo Ngcobo and Nontokozo Mkhize, who was featured on Sjava’s song Thixo.
