David Kramer’s new musical, Orpheus McAdoo, will be presented by Cape Town Opera at Artscape next month. The highly anticipated production is an exciting, fresh take on Kramer’s hugely successful Orpheus in Africa, which premiered in Cape Town in 2015.
Orpheus McAdoo marks an exciting first-time collaboration between the Cape Town Opera company and the legendary Kramer. Kramer who also directs the show, and his music, inspired by early spirituals, minstrel songs, ragtime, ballads and opera, includes several new songs. Cape Town Opera’s voices will lift the choral elements to new heights, and audiences will identify with familiar, traditional hymns and tunes such as “Amazing Grace” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”.
Orpheus McAdoo features a cast of Cape Town Opera (CTO) members, including accomplished House Soloists Conroy Scott as Orpheus and Brittany Smith as Mattie. She won a Fleur du Cap Theatre Award last year for her role as Maria in The Sound of Music. Appearing alongside the CTO singers in both speaking and singing roles will be a number of equally talented performers such as Jody Abrahams (Egbert Washburn), Dean Balie (Ernest Logan), Alexis Petersen (Lucy Moten), Elton Landrew (Curtis), Eldon van der Merwe (Richard McAdoo) and Natalie Robbie (Lady Loch), all of whom are well versed in musical and dramatic theatre and who add depth to the production.
The story revolves around the African-American choir known as The Virginia Jubilee Concert Company led by Orpheus McAdoo, that visited South Africa in the 1890s. Invited by Lady Loch, the High Commissioner’s wife, they successfully presented a style of singing that had never before been heard in the Cape and beyond. The troupe was warmly embraced and became an overnight sensation, and over a period of two years they toured towns and cities like Worcester, Wellington, Kimberley, Graaff-Reinet, Laingsburg and the rest of South Africa.
Says Kramer: “I’m looking forward to working with the combination of opera singers and musical performers to partly conjure up this era. It is my hope that audiences will experience what the Virginia Jubilee Singers might have sounded like in concert in those days. This choir made a tremendous impact and the story of Orpheus and his wife Mattie and their struggle with minstrelsy in the 1890s provides for an entertaining and eye-opening evening at the theatre.”
The creative team includes Fiona du Plooy as Assistant Director and Movement Director, Dawid Bovarhoff as Arranger and Kevin Kraak as Musical Director. Costumes are by Maritha Visagie, Set and Visuals are by Julian David, lighting is by Faheem Bardien and Sound Design is by The Grateful Deaf.
Orpheus McAdoo runs at Artscape from 18 October to 4 November. Tickets from R200 to R450 can be purchased through Webtickets and Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695. Discounts are available for groups, students and pensioners. @capetownopera
