Get ready to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela with Madiba the Musical. The show will be in Perth from 2 to 12 of January 2019.
The productions Australian tour starts in Melbourne in October and will tour to Sydney and Canberra in November nefore celebrating the New Year in Perth. After the Perth season the show will head to Adelaide from 17 to 27 January.
Madiba the Musical, celebrates the life of the former South African leader who would have turned 100 in July this year. The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent 27 years as a political prisoner and after his release became the nation’s President.
The musical was originally produced in France, making it’s debut in 2016 and has subsequently enjoyed seasons in Tunisia, The West Indies and Algeria. The Australian shows will be the first time the work has been performed in English, with French-American writer Dylan Hadida adapting the work.
Neil Croker, the producer of the Australian production, said an exciting line up of talented singers, actors and dancers has been assembled, with the role of Nelson Mandela being played by Perci Moeketsi. The producers conducted an international search to get the best actor for the linchpin role.
The performer said he was pinching himself with the realisation that he’ll soon be portraying his hero, and on an international platform.
“It is beyond a dream come true,” beams the triple threat from Pretoria, the South African city where Mandela was both imprisoned and later inaugurated as President — so fitting that a star from this area is chosen for the pivotal role.” Moeketsi said.
Producer Neil Crocker said Mandela’s story was one that suited the realm of musical theatre.
“Madiba the Musical is a production with both a fantastic and moving story, and some truly fabulous and joyous music and dance. This cast we have assembled of such authentic and talented actors, singers and dancers will deliver to audiences a memorable night of informative, challenging and uplifting theatre”.
Alongside Perci Moeketsi joins Tim Omaji, Tarisai Vushe, Blake Erickson;,Madeline Perrone, Barry Conrad, Ruva Ngwenya and David Denis along with Courtney Bell and Riley Sutton to star in this energetic and compelling new stage show.
Tim Omaji, who came to fame under the moniker Timomatic, plays the role of Sam Onatou, a young black activist who is arrested in South Africa. In prison he meets the man known as ‘Madiba’, Nelson Mandela.
Tarisai Vushe plays Sam’s fiancée Sandy who works for the family of a white policeman, Peter Van Leden, played by Sydney actor Blake Erickson.
Madeline Perrone plays the policeman’s daughter Helena, who Sandy asks to help free Mandela. Barry Conrad, Sandy’s younger brother William, falls in love with Helena. As a fictional parallel story to Mandela’s work as a lawyer and activist for peace, the romance between young artist Will and white Afrikaans girl Helena tells of the struggle and tragedy of the apartheid regime.
Following her performance as Shirelles lead singer Shirley Owens in the successful national touring production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Ruva Ngwenya plays the role of Winnie Mandela.
The show is expected to tour New Zealand later in 2019 before heading off to other international markets.
Don’t miss the show when it opens at the Crown Theatre on 2nd January, get tickets online from Ticketmaster or phone 131 600.
OIP Staff
