International cabaret artist and comedienne Tonya Koenderman brings her hilarious show, Growing Old Disgracefully, a light-hearted, frank look at the funny side of ageing, to The Drama Factory stage.
Do you put your car keys in the fridge? Do you forget why you walked into a room? Are your arms beginning to resemble batwings? You are not alone! Come along and enjoy a glass of wine or six for a show filled with laughter and just a few tears.
All your favourite songs will be featured, with a wicked twist. The evergreen but, no longer relevant “A Few of My Favourite Things” has been rebooted to embrace more age-appropriate, but fun themes, such as Xanax. Alcohol, and men…covered in toffee. “All about That Base” is now an ode to make-up, botox and other anti-ageing tools, while the classic “Memories”, from the musical Cats, is now about…well…remembering. All in all, you can look forward to a side-splitting night of entertainment and fun filled frivolity. Sorry, in advance, for the new laugh lines.
Koenderman has been hailed by critics as “one of the hottest properties on the cabaret circuit”, and a “pint-sized Dynamo”. She started her career fresh out of drama school with Kevin Feather’s cabaret, The Dooh Wah Girls, in 1990, which toured the country for four years. Other cabarets under her belt are We 3, Juke is King, Jive to the Juke, and Wurlitzer, All of Woman and Shake Your Bootie, The Durban award nominated Convent Girls (with old school pal, Lisa Bobbert). All these shows were performed to packed houses throughout South Africa.
Koenderman’s solo cabarets include the hits, “Tonya unwrapped”, “Makin’ Whoopee”, “Liza with a T”, “Age of Aquarius”, “A Night In Paris”, “When Jazz Was King” and “Born To Diva”. She performed in the lookalike, sound-alike show Stars in your Eyes, impersonating her favourite artist, Liza Minnelli, which ran for two seasons at the Carousel in Johannesburg.
Koenderman has worked extensively for Sun International in numerous extravaganzas throughout South Africa. She had the great honour of being the only local artist to star in the Sun City sensation Beyond Belief, which ran for 16 months at the Sun City Extravaganza. In it she again she impersonated the legendary Liza Minnelli. Most recently, the performer has been very much in the corporate-function scene, performing for the likes of Investec, Standard Bank, Nedbank, Appletizer, Gillette, SA Breweries, Avis, Adcock Ingram, World Travel, VWV, Absa, Discovery, Virgin Active, to name a few.
Apart from dazzling Saudi Arabian “royalty”, she has performed in countries such as Australia, Mauritius, Seychelles, Ethiopia (for the World Health Organization) and Morocco.
The show starts at 19:30 on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 July; 15:00 on Saturday 20 July; and at 16:00 on Sunday 21 July. Tickets at R160 or R180 can be securely booked online at www.thedramafactory.co.za.
