THE RHUMBELOW THEATRE
WE ARE NOW FULLY
AIR-CONDITIONED
Cunningham Rd Off Bartle Rd
PRESENTS
SONGS OF LOVE AND LIPSTICK
Cape Town Cabaret Artist
Directed by
Sanjin Muftic
TUESDAY 05 JUNE 2007
Show starts 7.30 pm
THURSDAY 07
JUNE 2007 Show starts 7.30 pm
SATURDAY 09 JUNE 2007
Show starts 8.00 pm
(Venue opens 90 minutes before show for picnic dinner)
A
theatrical cabaret starring Cape Town based singer / composer / performer,
Johnson has
appeared in many productions over the past 12 years in South Africa, Holland
and Canada. He has recently returned to
Cape Town after a five year stay in Darling where he worked as artistic
director at
Evita se Perron.
Johnson performed
in Theatre for Africa’s ´Obie in Revue` and `Raiders and the Lord of the
Dings´. He has worked as musical director, actor, singer and composer for film
and stage. In 1992 he was commissioned to compose the score for the UCT
production of ´Die Koup Jy´ which went on to win the award for best production
at the ATKV Festival. He has appeared in ´Bambi Sings the FAK´, ´The Rocky
Horror Show as Riff Raff, ´Noel and Marlene’ as Noel Coward opposite
Pieter-Dirk Uys, The Poggenpoel Sisters´ and many more.
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 Cape
Town International Comedy Festival and directed two very successful cabarets.
He also appeared in a film, ‘The Bird can Fly’ starring Barbara Hershey.
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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