DANCE

Stylish homage to Tinseltown

Production: Hollywood
Writer: Gillian Mitchell
Photos: Natalie Gabriels

Hollywood, the exuberant production from LAMTA (Luitingh Alexander Musical Theatre Academy), is at heart an homage to the Hollywood of the 1950s and in particular the golden age of the Hollywood musical. It is a loving tribute to when movies were shot on studio back lots, when Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers could be found on sound stages, when musicals were the rage, and no one blinked an eye when a film contained an extended dance sequence.

Hollywood pays tribute to show business with panache and a great deal of style. The works are varied and highly entertaining. The talented cast performs with enthusiasm and confidence and never once does the energy lag. They deliver an evening of dance that embraces ballet, jazz, graceful acrobatics and a whole lot of heart. The eleven choreographers have done an outstanding job of creating works that take us and the dancers through all the moods and cycles of a life in performance. Hats off to the young singers who performed both soaring and delicate songs with such professional ease and surety.

Slick and polished dance numbers, beautiful vocal performances, and thought-provoking big-screen images all interweave to showcase the history, the corruption, the beauty, the seediness and the glamour of the world’s biggest dream factory.

Hollywood also has its roots in a form of theatre that we rarely see these days – the variety show. Once the staple of both stage and television, these energetic shows would serve as excellent showcases for dancers, singers, actors, and musicians who performed short pieces one after the other and entertained audiences with their variety.

And Hollywood delivers on the fun and entertainment in huge measure. Slick and polished dance numbers, beautiful vocal performances, and thought-provoking big-screen images all interweave to showcase the history, the corruption, the beauty, the seediness and the glamour of the world’s biggest dream factory.

There is also a quiz on the film scores that was so enthusiastically tackled by the audience – the moment when everyone in the auditorium spontaneously started boxing was hilarious – it could be a show all on its own.

Well done, LAMTA. To wildly paraphrase from Annie Get Your Gun: the costumes, the screen, the make-up, the props, the headaches, the heartaches, the backaches, the flops – there’s no business like show business and you are the tops!

Hollywood
30 SEP 18:00
90 min | Adam Small Auditorium
R180-R260 | R210-R290 at the door

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