AHEAD of its opening at the Nelson Mandela Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa in June as part of activities marking the 2017 Africa Day Celebrations, the award-winning musical, Kakadu, will be staged in Nigeria tomorrow.
Written by Uche Nwokedi (SAN) and directed by Kanayo Omo, Kakadu willbe at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, as part of the Lagos @ 50 celebrations.
Featuring Ben Ogbeiwi and Kemi Lala-Akindoju, amongst others, the musical is a story of dreams and hopes, of peace and war, of friendships and broken promises, of love and innocence with Kakadu, a popular night club in the heart of Lagos and a Mecca of music of all genres and fashion, as the centre point.
Kakadu features an exciting blend of Western music of the 60s, highlife, afrobeat, contemporary and traditional Nigerian folk music, to produce a wonderfully eclectic musical.
Having been hailed in Nigeria and Switzerland, Omo said the musical is ready to wow South Africans too. “Basically, we are looking at Kakadu as a classical African story. The problems that were addressed in Kakadu are in every African country.”
On what is new in Kakadu, Omo said: “The story remains the same but some things have changed. However, what is most important now is that the actors are giving life to the story in a unique way that they haven’t before. It is not about telling people what to do; it is about them bringing material to the story, building a very powerful experience and delivering it to an international stage. It is not about entertainment only, it about making a difference in people’s lives.”