Its Time for Nigerians to partake in the sister Act Musicals.One of the most commercially successful musicals of the 90s, Sister Act
is donning a new garment, made of theatrical fabrics and all.
That was
news from South Africa as the Waterfront Theatre School resident in Cape
Town will be staging a theatre performance while training young talents
in Nigeria. Since April 2011, the Sister Act movie had run its course
on Broadway Theatre and had received five Tony Award nominations
including Best Musical. With the renewed interest in musical shows in
Nigeria, Sister Act finally arrives here.
The Managing Director, Colours in
Africa, Dr Soji Akinkugbe is one man to thank for that. For one, he had
always nursed the ambition of contributing to the growth and development
of the Nigeria theatre having been influenced largely by the likes of
Duro Ladipo, Hubert Ogunde and the legendary Afrobeat musician, Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti.
Consequently, he built and sustained
friendship with a group of theatre artists at the Waterfront Theatre
School who are passionate about developing the robust skills in Nigerian
Theatre.
Between November and December 2016,
Akinkugbe in collaboration with the Waterfront Theatre School and 2wice
as Nice will be presenting a musical performance of “Sister Act” and it
will be one of the longest running shows that had ever been witnessed in
Nigeria. The all-Nigerian cast production will be trained while
technical skills will be obtained from the travelling theatre team.
Although the duration is not certain yet, the organisers are working
around a period of two weeks for the massive production.
“The theatre is a dynamic way of
encountering a performance than a film,” revealed Akinkugbe at a press
briefing held in Lagos. “I have always nursed the ambition of being able
to bring one of the big musical performances to the country, but I was
quite emphatic that I needed a Nigerian cast. The country can be a
challenging market to sell from the standpoint of perception and
ignorance.
“It is difficult to sell, so over the
last few it has time taken me time to find a technical suitable partner.
We do have the skills which can be trained but we do not have the
technical skills. We do not have the technical equipment and the proper
stage. The only ones we have in Lagos are the National Theatre and the
University of Lagos, but they are in moribund conditions.”
Akinkugbe who is the Executive Director
of the project spoke on the production and what to expect from the award
winning director, Garth Tavares as well as the international theatre
artist, Genna Galloway. “We are working with the Delia Sainsbury-led
Waterfront Theatre School which trains young people and bring them for
the market, so I was very much interested in working with a
developmental organisation whose core business is training. For us, this
is going to be a learning process.
I’m very confident in a Nigerian
cast; ultimately we will have a Nigerian technical team. So, to work
with the team, we will have understudied for all the major roles, the
music director, the director, the choreographer and the costumier.
Credit: This Day
After
six to ten shows, the basic skills would have been transferred to
competent Nigerians. We also look forward to working with them in South
Africa when they are organising shows.”
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