STAR+CROSSED. A New South African Musical. Director: Fred Abrahamse. Book and Lyrics: Marcel Meyer. Musical Director: Wessel Odendaal. Cast: Earl Gregory and Isabella Jane. Artscape Arena.
BEVERLEY BROMMERT reviews
Antithetical philosophy, socio-political issues and unorthodox romance: not, one would imagine, the most promising material for a successful musical, but the ever-creative duo of Fred Abrahamse and Marcel Meyer have pulled it off in style with Star+Crossed, a new South African musical.
With impressive projection design by Kirsti Cummings, as well as Faheem Bardien’s evocative lighting, Abrahamse’s astute direction, and Meyer’s imaginative libretto and lyrics, the audience is kept in thrall from start to finish by this unlikely fairytale based on fact. Which goes to prove that nothing beats story-telling to pique curiosity and hold attention.
That hoary preface, “Once upon a time…” recurs more than once in the course of this engaging hybrid, to invite complicit listening; those who accept the invitation are amply rewarded.
Spanning the 20th century’s turbulent years of conflict and change from 1910 to 1994, Star+Crossed chronicles the lives of two South Africans born in the same hour in the year (1910) that saw Hailey’s Comet and the formation of the Union of South Africa.
Vividly conveyed
One protagonist is black, the other, white. One is poor, the other, privileged. A male and a female. They could hardly differ more, especially as their respective ways of coping with the harsh reality of war, death and social injustice are at diametrical variance. She finds solace in escapism, myths, fantasy and cosmic space, while he confronts life with a gritty, uncompromising realism.
This is vividly conveyed in the central sequence (fifth), of the work’s nine episodes when in the 1940s, she joyfully takes to the skies as a newly-trained Royal Airforce pilot whereas he, now a journalist, grimly descends into the stygian world of striking African gold miners…in mythological terms, Icarus and Orpheus.
Despite all this potential antipathy, the two are drawn irresistibly together in successive meetings atop the appropriately-named Flying Saucer Hill in Natal, from 1918 as innocent children to 1963 as a middle-aged couple going their separate ways until their permanent, posthumous reunion in heaven.
The musical’s prologue and finale, set in the afterlife, provide parentheses for this elegantly crafted work.
Convincing chemistry
Earl Gregory, as Billy, and Isabella Jane as Bess, are well matched: both have strong stage presence, resonant vocal prowess and, most important of all, convincing chemistry.
Jane’s Bess remains plausible amid her extravagant eccentricities as she details her abduction by a alien; Gregory’s Billy has moments of appealing vulnerability to leaven his austere worldview. Between them, they muster a sense of human warmth to counter their generally abrasive interaction. Both do justice to bravura arias, but their best moments come in duets. Jane’s voice is delightful in pianissimo execution, while Gregory excels in full-throated delivery.
Cummings’ visual effects are magnificently devised and effectively complemented by Bardien’s lighting. Odendaal’s score is touched with lyricism but remains discreetly unobtrusive, a necessary accompaniment to the action and vocal performance.
As the volcanic relationship between Billy and Bess finally resolves itself in acceptance of the truth, ultimate liberator and healer of troubled minds, a sense of peace mantles protagonists and audience alike. A most satisfying way to embark on the holiday season after a tough year.
This is a show to remember…with pleasure.
What: Star+Crossed
Where and when: Artscape Arena from 9 to 31 December 2022
Tickets: Computicket
Photographs: Danie Coetzee
WS
