The Color Purple, as a musical, was originally produced on Broadway in 2005, by a team of producers, including Oprah Winfrey and received eleven Tony nominations.  Now, this musical is to be seen on a South African Stage, as directed by Janice Honeyman, and Rowan Bakker as Musical director with an all South African cast.

Enter our competition here, and hope the luck of the purple draw is on your side…

The Color Purple Competition Form

[contact-form-7 id=”7224″ title=”The Color Purple”]

Please Note:

1. Competition Closes on Monday, 5 February 2018.
2. Tickets are only valid for the specified dates and performance times, and my not be upgraded, or exchanged for cash, or for alternate performances.
3. The prize comprises of two tickets per Price Winner.
4. No-Shows will not receive replacement tickets.
5. By entering this competition, the participant agrees to the terms and conditions.
6. Excess entries may cause your email to be seen as spam.

The post Win Tickets to The Color Purple appeared first on Stage and Screen.

In August 2016, director Janice Honeyman, executive producer Bernard Jay and musical director Rowan Bakker embarked on a search for the two women who would be chosen to play the lead roles of Celie and Shug Avery in the Tony Award winning musical The Color Purple, to be staged for the first time in South Africa in 2018 and with an all-South African cast.

After gruelling auditions in Cape Town, Pretoria and Joburg of over 250 performers, the team finally found South Africa’s answers for the two currently most coveted female roles in musical theatre. Today, we are excited to reveal the two South African actresses who will be playing these roles in the first major international production of The Color Purple since the Broadway revival.

At a media junket, held at Joburg Theatre, it was revealed that Didintle Khunou will be playing the role of Celie – a caring and gentle girl whose resilience is truly miraculous and ultimately a tribute to humankind – and Molebatsi Lekgetha will be playing the role of Shug Avery – the archetypal blues woman, with her earthy wisdom and singer lifestyle.

Didintle Khunou, 25, is a Wits School of Arts graduate, having obtained a BA Honours Degree in Dramatic Arts. She has made many television appearances, the most recent being the second season of SABC2’s popular Sotho drama series Mamello, directed by SAFTA award-winning director Zuko Nodada.

Born and raised in Pretoria, Molebatsi Lekgetha, 33, began exploring her talent as a performer in primary school. Her love and passion for the arts directed her to study and complete a BA (Drama) Degree at the University of Pretoria. She immediately landed a lead role in Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the Market Theatre, for which she received a Naledi Award Nomination for Best Performance By A Newcomer. .

Didintle and Molebatsi join a talented all South African cast, which features Zane Gillion, Sebe Leotlela (as Nettie), Dolly Louw, Andile Magxaki, Yamikani Mahaka-Phiri (as Harpo), Venolia Manale, Namisa Mdlalose, Phumi Mncayi, Neo Motaung (as Sofia), Tshepo Ncokoane, Thokozani Nzima, Funeka Peppeta, Aubrey Poo (as Mister), Senzesihle Radebe, Lelo Ramasimong, Zolani Shangase, Ayanda Sibisi and Lebo Toko.

The director is Janice Honeyman, musical director Rowan Bakker, production designer Sarah Roberts, lighting designer Mannie Manim and The Color Purple is produced by Joburg Theatre and Bernard Jay in association with MNet and 702.

The Color Purple is based upon the 1982 novel written by Alice Walker and the 1985 Warner Bros/Amblin Entertainment Motion Picture, directed by Steven Spielberg. The musical’s book is by Marsha Norman and the music and lyrics are by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. The musical The Color Purple was originally produced on Broadway in 2005 by Oprah Winfrey, Scott Sanders, Roy Furman and Quincy Jones, receiving eleven 2006 Tony Award nominations. The recent Broadway revival enjoyed tremendous success, boosted by its major Tony Award wins in 2016 and Grammy Award in 2017.

The musical will have preview performances in The Mandela at Joburg Theatre from January 31st 2018, with its official opening night on Sunday February 4th and running until Sunday March 4th 2018. Tickets from R240 are already on sale: telephone 0861 670 670, go online at www.joburgtheatre.com or book in person at the Joburg Theatre box office. Theatre patrons can also book online and pay at selected Pick N Pay stores.

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Riding through the royal forest of Sherwood on a glorious May morning, you don’t have a care in the world.  Then you hear a bird call, the faint rustling of trees, and suddenly a man armed with a longbow appears in your path.  He wears a feathered cap, or is that a hood?  You can’t see the man’s face clearly, but you don’t have to.  He is dressed in Lincoln green, the colour of Robin Hood – the most famous English outlaw of all time.

And now comes Janice Honeyman’s brand new pantomime adventure, Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood, on the stage of The Mandela at Joburg Theatre from November 5th to December 30th 2016.

The plot combines the babes-lost-in-the-forest story with the Robin Hood legend.  The young children, Hansel and Gretel, come to visit their uncle, the Sheriff of Nottingham, little suspecting that he is plotting their demise.  But never fear, help is at hand – in the shape of Robin and his Merry Men, plus Maid Marian and the Spirit of the Forest!

Playing the role of Robin in his first Joburg Theatre pantomime is Izak Davel, best known to TV viewers as Isidingo‘s arrogant Bradley Haines, and whose hit recordings include Verlei My, Is Jy In Of Is Jy Uit and Vreesloos.

Much loved panto star Desmond Dube returns to Joburg Theatre to play the jovial Friar Tuck, Idols finalist Bongi Mthombeni features in his fifth Joburg Theatre pantomime as the dandy Will Scarlet and leading lady of South African musical theatre, Kate Normington, will surely be wildly comic as Silly Sylviana, the Spirit of the Forest!

Also featured in Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood are Graham Hopkins as the villainous Norman the Nasty, Sheriff of Nottingham, L J Urbani as the ever-popular panto Dame Emmarentia Ugly, Phumi Mncayi as chief lieutenant of the Merry Men, Little John, award-winning actress Candida Mosoma as Much the Miller’s Son (written with an inevitable panto twist!), beautiful Carmen Pretorius as Robin’s love interest, Maid Marian, and Jaco Van Rensburg as the wandering minstrel, Alan-a-Dale.

Joining them in the all-South-African cast are, in alphabetical order, TeeKay Baloyi, Darius Engelbrecht, Clive Gilson, Nuritt Graff, Kyra Green, Dirk Joubert, Dolly Louw, Yamikani Mahaka-Phiri, Tsepho Ncokoane, Noni Nkonto, Dale Scheepers, Natasha Van Der Merwe and Maryanne Van Eyssen.

“It’s an exciting year for us when Janice Honeyman writes a brand new pantomime script,” says Bernard Jay, Executive Producer of the panto. “We don’t know exactly what to expect until the last minute, but we do know it will be full of her magical flair for story-telling, spectacular special effects, zany comedy and outrageous double entendres!”

Writer / director Janice Honeyman collaborates with producer Bernard Jay on their sixteenth Joburg Theatre pantomime together.  Rowan Bakker joins the team this year as musical director; Nicol Sheraton returns as choreographer; the eagerly anticipated, over-the-top, fabulous sets and costumes are once again supplied by Qdos in the UK; the lighting design is by Graham McLusky; sound design by Trevor Peters; and Timothy Le Roux is the resident director.  As with many past successful pantomime productions at Joburg Theatre, Claire Pacariz and Simon James serve as associate producers.

Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood has preview performances on The Mandela stage at Joburg Theatre on November 5th and 6th with tickets from R170.  Its official Opening Night is scheduled for Sunday November 6th and the season continues until December 30th, with tickets priced from R220.

Over 30,000 tickets have already been sold for this year’s panto, so best to hurry and get yours now for South Africa’s most popular family entertainment tradition.  Tickets are available by visiting www.joburgtheatre.com or calling 0861 670 670, as well as through Webtickets and at Pick ‘n’ Pay stores. For group bookings of 10 or more, contact the theatre directly on 011 877 6853/6815.

For details of the full schedule and performance times, visit www.joburgtheatre.com

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Executive Producer Bernard Jay is proud to announce the completion of casting for South Africa’s first ‘non-replica’, professional production of the legendary disco musical, Saturday Night Fever. “We have an absolutely fabulous, world class company of all South African artists,” says Jay. “The crème-de-la-crème of the amazing pool of musical theatre talent we have in this country.”

Leading the company on stage at the Opera Theatre of the Pretoria State Theatre from September 13th will be Daniel Buys as Tony Manero, Natasha Van Der Merwe as Stephanie Mangano, Matthew Berry as Bobby C, L J Neilson as Annette, Craig Urbani as Frank Manero, Charmaine Weir-Smith as Flo Manero, Bongi Mthombeni as Monty and Kiruna-Lind Devar as Pauline. Also featured in the all-star cast are Joanna Abatzoglou, Cameron Botha, Vanessa Brierley, Clint Lesch, Londiwe Dhlomo, Keaton Ditchfield, Toni Jean Erasmus, Devon Flemmer, Zane Gillion, Nurit Graff, Nathan Kruger, Sebe Leotlela, Brandon Lindsay, Phumi Mncayi, Raquel Munn, Mark Richardson, Phillip Schnetler and Steven van Wyk.

Winning the highly coveted role of the iconic Tony Manero – made legendary in the 1977 movie starring John Travolta – Daniel Buys (Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys, West Side Story) declared “my inner Bee Gee just came out at the auditions!”.

Saturday Night Fever is presented by The South African State Theatre and Bernard Jay. Direction is by award-winning Greg Homann (A Voice I Cannot Silence), choreography is by Weslee Swain Lauder, musical direction by Rowan Bakker (this year’s Naledi Award Best Musical Director for Sister Act), with set and lighting design by Denis Hutchinson, costume design by Sarah Roberts and sound design by Trevor Peters.

The original stage musical of Saturday Night Fever was based on Nik Cohn’s 1975 New York Magazine article Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night and the 1977 film. The famous Bee Gees score – one of the best-selling movie soundtracks of all time – includes Stayin’ Alive, Disco Inferno, Night Fever, More Than a Woman, If I Can’t Have You, Nights on Broadway, How Deep is Your Love and Tragedy. The State Theatre’s production is a new version of the show adapted by American writers Sean Cercone and David Abbinanti: “We went back to the screenplay and edited it down,” says Cercone. “The songs needed to carry the emotional journey.”

Saturday Night Fever previews at the Opera Theatre from September 13th, with its official Opening Night set for September 16th. The season runs until October 9th. Tickets are on sale now at Computicket from R150. Visit www.computicket.com.

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