Umoja: The Spirit of Togetherness at the Civic Theatre

By FRANCIS TILL

Umoja got that rarest of Auckland accolades on Wednesday night: a sustained standing ovation, complete with whoops, from a delighted audience which had nothing in common apart from curiosity and tickets.

This is gorgeous entertainment, bursting with song, movement and charm, fronted by an astonishingly energetic and attractive cast of 30 singer-dancers who rejoice in performance.

There is potently elemental drumming on stage during many of the numbers and a five-piece band backing up the rest, just to make sure no one misses a beat.

Loosely strung on a narrative thread, Umoja is essentially a performance pastiche of South African music.

The narrator, Joseph Motsamai, who deserves to be the next voice of CNN, tells the story, and the stories, of the music in the mythical context of his own lifetime.

The singing ranges from good to very fine. While few of the solo performances are noteworthy, the group voice is a concordant explosion of harmonics, and the dancing is uniformly inspired.

The choreography from co-creator Todd Twala produces an eclectic mix of highly interpretative works with a unifying signature that is distinctive and sensuous.

The dances are remixed samplings from villages, workcamps and dance floors from Sophiatown to Soweto and all the shebeens in between.

You may be tempted to try some of these moves when you leave the theatre - many were on opening night. Be careful, this choreography should come with a warning label about home use and expert supervision.

Standouts include Gregory Makhubela, the compere in a piece showing off Durban's talent competitions, and Hlengiwe Msibi, the prostitute in a delirious take on the arrival of a country boy in Johannesburg, but the entire company shines, especially when they are all on stage, pounding out one form of rapture or another.

Kudos also to visionary producer Joe Theron, director Ian von Memerty and stage manager Timothy Dube (there are more than 200 costumes changes), but the pervasive genius of production/costume designer (and co-creator) Thembi Nyandeni deserves a special standing ovation.