THE RHUMBELOW THEATRE
WE ARE NOW FULLY
AIR-CONDITIONED
PRESENTS
BEHIND EVERY MAN –
A THEATRICAL CABARET
Directed by Sanjin Muftic
(Venue opens 90 minutes before show for picnic dinner)
Cape
Town based singer / composer / performer,
This
World Premier, an intimate, evocative and moving show celebrating the genius
of female song writers and composers performed by a man.
Filled
with Johnson’s highly original interpretations of songs by the likes of Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette, Alison Moyet, Claire Watling, Madonna and many more.
Moving, funny and captivating.
Directed
by one of
Johnson
has appeared in many productions over the past 12 years in South Africa,
Evita se Perron.
Johnson performed
in Theatre for
One-man shows
include ´The Importance of Being Harnessed´, ´Blonde Juan´, Trip´, ‘Love is
Strange’ and many more. Last year he appeared with Julian Clarey
at the
Other upcoming
shows for Johnson include ‘Kissed by Brel’ at the
Theatre on The Bay and Montecasino
later this year and Bambi in Cabaret with
Pieter-Dirk
Uys at the 2007 Grahamstown
Festival.
Sanjin Muftic
Sanjin Muftic
was eight years old when his parents left behind a life of socialist struggle
in Sarajevo, launching in Ethiopia the young man's search for his worldly place
and identity.
"When I was
in Sarajevo we had to take a pledge to serve our leader. We had to wear a blue
hat with the red communist star and a red scarf. When we left my parents didn't
hold on to any political or religious ideals that they enforced on me or my
younger sister," says Muftic.
When Muftic was aged 10, Sarajevo was a bloodbath. He was
enrolled at an international school in Ethiopia until 18 while his father travelled to various states as a field officer with the UN
Refugees Agency.
A few years later
his father ended up in Pretoria while Muftic studied
computers and drama in a small university town of only 6 000 people in Canada.
While visiting his father, he often landed in Cape Town and "enjoyed it so
I decided to study here".
So he left a job
designing websites for a Canadian company because he didn't like the loneliness
of the profession and boarded a plane headed to the coastal dorpie
that mesmerized him.
Since studying at
UCT he has pranced around on stage with a shaven head as Polonius in a Hamlet
production in 2004. Earlier this year he was an assistant director on Twelfth
Night at the Maynardville theatre in Wynberg.
He most recently
directed the acclaimed ‘The Life and Work of Petrovic
Petar.
What the press said about
March, 2007
SONGS MY LOVER FORGOT TO SING ME
Gentle introspective cabaret is a real treat. (Review by Illa Thompson)
Cape Town based singer / composer / performer,
This gentle introspective cabaret is a real treat. Devoid of any
sing-along show-tunes or obligatory audience participation numbers – and
thankfully not an Abba number in sight -Johnson invites you to sit back and
listen. He has chosen an eclectic mix of disparate love songs which talk to man
or woman, gay or straight, young or old, cynic or romantic.
This is not a mass-appeal tribute show - by Rhumbelow theatre boss’s
Johnson presents an inspired choice of music – mostly
seldom-presented acoustic renditions of love songs by magnificent composers
including Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter and Noel Coward, interspersing
well-known pieces with his own compositions and some less well-known tunes.
Particularly noteworthy is his interpretation of Brel
which is both tender and passionate. His “Amsterdam” and “If You Go Away” were two of the evening’s many highlights and his
finale of the dizzy-making “Carousel” had the audience on their feet. My
favourite was the delicate “Song for Old Lovers” which was weepingly
beautiful.
Johnston moves through the myriad of emotions associated with love:
passion, anger, hurt, betrayal, loss, lust and confusion - without ever
over-playing any one aspect. One
minute performing for laughs, the next transfixing the audience into a
respectful reverie. The audience was enthralled – they remained totally silent
throughout. You could hear a pin drop.
His programme includes Tori Amos’ haunting
and barely-recognisable “Winter” swiftly followed by Kurt Weill’s
“Stranger Here Myself” and “Nature Boy” by Ahbez –
where you cant help but see Ewan McGregor at his
typewriter about to have a life-changing experience at the Moulin Rouge. He
continues this image later on in the show with a Jim Broadbent-like deadpan
rendition of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”. He shares two of his own compositions –
“Nude” and “Most Beautiful” – both sublime pieces.
The pace and energy changes completely with a very camp and
deliciously naughty drag character opening the second act chatting breezily -
Cape Town style - about her show, “Air on a G String”, at the about-to-be
opened Ecstasy Club on the Bluff. She is
rude, outrageous and very, very funny. She could (at the drop of a hat) develop
a whole show and persona of her own and could quite easily push poor Godfrey
off the piano stool and totally take over
…. and her wig is worth the price of the ticket alone. It has to be
seen to be believed!
Johnson performs the whole programme (25 songs) with no sheet music
and without hardly looking at fingers on the piano
keys. He sits – somewhat strangely – sideways onto the piano, facing the
audience with his fingers moving ferociously across the keyboard to his left
and, at times, almost behind him.
He has worked as musical director, director, actor, singer and
composer for film and stage for more than 12 years in South African and abroad.
He is equally comfortable appearing in his own shows as he is accompanying
others. He has played for a host of musical luminaries (South African and
international) including Irit Noble, Julian Clarey and Judy Page. He has enjoyed a long professional
relationship with living legend Pieter-Dirk Uys. Johnson managed Uys’ theatre in Darling, Evita se Perron from 1997 – 2002.
He directed Uys in “Carnival” and accompanied many of
Pieter-Dirk Uys’s characters in reviews.
I am thrilled that Godfrey has finally made it to Durban with his
solo show, and hope he returns regularly with similar material and more of his
own work. “Songs My Lover Forgot to Sing Me” is one of the most interesting,
sophisticated, intelligent cabarets to have graced our Durban stages for a
while. His music is so beautiful, I could quite easily
re-book to catch him again this weekend. Whether you are in love, out of love,
aching for love or broken-hearted, it will remind you how complicated,
beautiful and profound love is. Articulate and moving, it is not to be missed
Join us at the
Rhumbelow.
R 60-00 (BANKING ESSENTIAL)
Bring food picnic baskets.
(Braais will be available
should you wish to cook some meat)
Limited secure parking available Booking is essential.
Bar Available (Please note Alcohol may not be
brought on to the premises)
Phone or
email Roland for bookings and get that money rolling in.
H 2057602 Cell
0824998636 email roland@stansell.za.net
VISIT : www.rhumbelow.za.net
Press photographs will
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