Arts Writer
THE popular Fugard Theatre has received 21 Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards nominations for four of its hit productions produced in 2015. These are Cabaret, Orpheus in Africa, Bad Jews and West Side Story. The awards ceremony will take place this year at the Baxter Theatre on Sunday, March 20.
Says executive director Daniel Galloway, “We had so much fun last year amongst the long hours and these nominations are a delightful bonus. It was a year of firsts for us: our first outing to the Artscape Opera House with our production of West Side Story and our first brand new, South African musical, Orpheus in Africa. I am thrilled for all our nominees!”
Orpheus in Africa, an original South African musical based on the true story of the African American impressario Orpheus McAdoo and his Virginia Jubilee Singers, was presented twice last year to great acclaim and has been honoured with no less than 10 nominations.
Its creator David Kramer has received three nominations, for Best Director, Best New South African Script and Best Original Music Composition. Other nominations for Orpheus in Africa include Aubrey Poo and Lynelle Kenned for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Musical and Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Musical respectively; for Dean Balie and Sne Dladla as Best Supporting Actor in a Musical; Jill Levenberg for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical; Saul Radomsky for Best Set Design, and Birrie le Roux for Best Costume Design.
Cabaret, the racy musical directed by Matthew Wild that played to sold out houses in Cape Town has four nominations – for Charl-Johan Lingenfelder as Best Lead actor in a Musical, for Shannyn Fourie and Michele Maxwell as Best Supporting Actress in a Musical and for Claire Taylor as Best Lead Actress in a Musical.
West Side Story, The Fugard Theatre’s first out-of-house production that was presented at the Artscape Opera House to rave reviews across the board, is nominated six times. Jonathan Roxmouth is nominated as Best Lead Actor in a Musical; Lynelle Kenned for Best Lead Actress in a Musical; Bianca Le Grange for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical; Stephen Jubber for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical; Joshua Cutts for Best Lighting Design, and Conor Murphy for Best Set Design. Murphy came on board to complete the design which Johann Engels began before his untimely passing.
The local premier of Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon and directed by Greg Karvellas, which played to 11 sold out weeks in Cape Town and 5 sold out weeks in Joburg, received a nomination for Saul Radomsky in the category of Best Set Design.
District Six Kanala is currently on the boards at the theatre.
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