My Trip to Joburg...
Recently I have been fortunate to be granted a wish that I have had for a long time, and it's probably not something that would have happened if a lot of my own initiative had been required - so I consider it a blessing.
A friend of mine was involved in this production and she said they needed a singer... when she mentioned this to me, I said to her... don't mess with such things because it's something that I really wanted to do. To be on stage! Wow!
Well, one thing led to another and here I am on the plane flying back to Cape Town after a successful two shows of "Paradise Road" in Joburg...
The shows were awesome. The people were mostly coloured, in fact there were very few if none at all, "whitey's" in the audience. I know there were two on the 2nd night because two of my friends came. Probably visited an area that they would never have otherwise.
I had never done anything like this in the past, so everything was new. The closest I had come to drama was in school and the closest I had come to musical drama was when I was a student I did two church "Psalty" musicals. They were awesome and I loved every minute and have always wanted to be on stage, so though I had butterflies, I was confident that not only would I be okay, but if there wasn't disaster like forget to come on or something, that I would actually be pretty cool. I knew that a little bit of energy and "larger than life" attitude can make up for any technical weakness (which I acknowledge I do have).
Just to put you in the picture, the musical is a "tribute" show. Now to those who don't know what that means, I'll give you a fly over description. A tribute show is one where the creator picks a theme, and then selects songs, old and new, along those lines. For instance, I have seen a tribute show entitled, "the guitar that rocked the world" - with songs which owe their fame to the legendary fender stratocaster a.k.a. the "strat". Other tribute shows i've seen, "the piano mean" - the likes of Bily Joel and Elton John - even some "Great Balls of Fire!" featured on that show.
Now this musical, "Paradise Road" is a tribute to S.A music. The show features an eclectic selection of songs from South African music, both old and new. From 60's love songs to noughties pop, from township dance to 80's pop. The show has taught me a lot about South African music and what a proud heritage in music we have - I found myself going "oh, is that South African?".
Friday night's show was a little on the rough side. I think largely because it was the first time a lot of us had done the show (there were 4 new cast members), and being our first time, I think we were unaware of exactly what was required. The lessons were quickly learnt as Saturday's show was a significant improvement having put the simple instructions received on Friday night into practice.
Yes, and the crowds were great. It was certainly not a "white" crowd, and it showed. The coloured community is far more ebullient and natural than us demure whiteys. I can remember some comment that was made after my first song, a passionate vent about unrequited love "don't cry". Perfect for the occasion and a good example of the kind of thing we're talking about. So from that perspective I think it was a very good platform for my first performance of Paradise Road.
It was a great weekend, and something that I would love to do more of. Fortunately, there were no disasters, there were blips and jitters and I do have a lot of work to do technically (that will of course never change). I think all in all, the best thing about the whole experience was that it has given me confidence something that my kind of personality requires.
A friend of mine was involved in this production and she said they needed a singer... when she mentioned this to me, I said to her... don't mess with such things because it's something that I really wanted to do. To be on stage! Wow!
Well, one thing led to another and here I am on the plane flying back to Cape Town after a successful two shows of "Paradise Road" in Joburg...
The shows were awesome. The people were mostly coloured, in fact there were very few if none at all, "whitey's" in the audience. I know there were two on the 2nd night because two of my friends came. Probably visited an area that they would never have otherwise.
I had never done anything like this in the past, so everything was new. The closest I had come to drama was in school and the closest I had come to musical drama was when I was a student I did two church "Psalty" musicals. They were awesome and I loved every minute and have always wanted to be on stage, so though I had butterflies, I was confident that not only would I be okay, but if there wasn't disaster like forget to come on or something, that I would actually be pretty cool. I knew that a little bit of energy and "larger than life" attitude can make up for any technical weakness (which I acknowledge I do have).
Just to put you in the picture, the musical is a "tribute" show. Now to those who don't know what that means, I'll give you a fly over description. A tribute show is one where the creator picks a theme, and then selects songs, old and new, along those lines. For instance, I have seen a tribute show entitled, "the guitar that rocked the world" - with songs which owe their fame to the legendary fender stratocaster a.k.a. the "strat". Other tribute shows i've seen, "the piano mean" - the likes of Bily Joel and Elton John - even some "Great Balls of Fire!" featured on that show.
Now this musical, "Paradise Road" is a tribute to S.A music. The show features an eclectic selection of songs from South African music, both old and new. From 60's love songs to noughties pop, from township dance to 80's pop. The show has taught me a lot about South African music and what a proud heritage in music we have - I found myself going "oh, is that South African?".
Friday night's show was a little on the rough side. I think largely because it was the first time a lot of us had done the show (there were 4 new cast members), and being our first time, I think we were unaware of exactly what was required. The lessons were quickly learnt as Saturday's show was a significant improvement having put the simple instructions received on Friday night into practice.
Yes, and the crowds were great. It was certainly not a "white" crowd, and it showed. The coloured community is far more ebullient and natural than us demure whiteys. I can remember some comment that was made after my first song, a passionate vent about unrequited love "don't cry". Perfect for the occasion and a good example of the kind of thing we're talking about. So from that perspective I think it was a very good platform for my first performance of Paradise Road.
It was a great weekend, and something that I would love to do more of. Fortunately, there were no disasters, there were blips and jitters and I do have a lot of work to do technically (that will of course never change). I think all in all, the best thing about the whole experience was that it has given me confidence something that my kind of personality requires.
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posted by Michael Wiles @ 12:16 AM
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