African Footprint opens at the Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City

African Footprint, South Africa’s most successful touring stage musical of the past decade, opens in Gold Reef City’s state-of-the-art Lyric Theatre on 9 July, while negotiating offers to move into major theatre venues in the USA and London’s West End in 2009.

The production has played more than 3 800 performances since its debut at the resort’s old Globe theatre in May 2000. Nicknamed ‘The People’s Musical’ by reviewers in North America, Europe and the Far East, its cast has grown from the original 12 dancers and four drummers to a company of 34 today.

The non-stop, 90-minute musical story of Africa’s emergence onto the world stage is linked by the poetry of Sophiatown legend, Don Mattera. Executive producer Richard Loring estimates the long-running hit has put more than 200 South African performers into the international spotlight on the way to its opening in London and New York.

“We’ve had offers before now to play on Broadway and in the West End,” he says. “Featuring in the Royal Variety Show in December 2000... to a TV viewership measured in tens of millions, made us a global attraction overnight - just a few months after we opened in Gold Reef City. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen then. The British tour we planned thereafter was cancelled due to an economic slowdown caused by a ‘foot-and-mouth’ epidemic. But I don’t regret it. African Footprint’s reputation has continued to grow worldwide through our constant touring and highly acclaimed performances. We’re bigger and better than ever, and ready now to put South Africa on the biggest musical stages of them all, on Broadway and the West End.”

More than 30 journalists from Mexico and France are attending African Footprint’s opening night at the Lyric Theatre, representing national magazines and broadcast media. The show will tour North America and Europe between September and December, immediately following the South Africa run.

Loring regards the visit of the international media to preview African Footprint in its home country as a significant opportunity. “We’re thrilled to showcase African Footprint for them in front of a South African audience,” he says. “They’ll also have time to get around and see the changes in our country. That’s the message that African Footprint celebrates whenever the curtain goes up, wherever we perform.”

African Footprint’s tour bookings continue to pour in for the rest of 2008. “We’re busier than ever,” says Loring. “More than 40 shows are scheduled so far in Mexico, the USA and France, in the major centres. We’ll be playing Mexico City on South Africa Day on 16 October, and open at the Casino de Paris in early November. More bookings are still being negotiated in Eastern Europe right up to Christmas.”

Opening night at the 1 100 seater Lyric Theatre is a charity performance which will donate R100 000 to launch a national Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) campaign for HIV/Aids relief. Richard Loring aims to add the support of other leading theatre producers, including Hazel Feldman, Pieter Toerien and the Civic’s Bernard Jay to the ongoing ACT Now! initiative.

“Theatre producers are a collective, working together to build a future for our talent and our audiences,” says Loring. “Alfred Phakathi is a good example of this. He joined African Footprint at 18, living in a shack in Mamelodi, outside Pretoria, with his grandmother. After some 3 400 performances with us and becoming our touring stage director he joined a show in Europe called Afrika Afrika. He was appointed dance director after six months and led 189 dancers in that production to rave reviews across Europe.

“Today, Alfred is back with us in African Footprint. He’s married and owns his own home; he travels the world and speaks six languages including German, and he is a fine example of the future of dance-musical theatre in in South Africa.”

Stage musicals are the headline attractions which have turned theatre into a giant commercial business worldwide. African Footprint has established a reputation for South African touring stage musicals to rival the top dance shows-sellers in the world markets. That success hasn’t come cheap: running a company of 34 plus crew and two tons of equipment on a US network of theatres seating between 1 000 and 3 000, for example, can create initial set-up costs of up to $125 000 a week – to R1million. There are no short-cuts.

“It can be a risky business in which one must keep investing,” says Loring. “However, major touring shows like African Footprint allow aspiring talents to sign up for a year or more, and plan their lives around a contracted income and extensive travel while they build their resumes towards their next career moves.” African Footprint trains its company to compete with the best, which demands the same discipline and professionalism that drive winning teams in soccer, cricket and rugby. “I began my career in major West End hits like A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, The Sound Of Music, and Student Prince,” he says. “I look for the same passion and hunger to be the best when I cast talent today.”

Richard Loring says a successful theatre company is a close family. “We celebrate the good times together and draw close for support with every new challenge. Opening the present run of African Footprint ‘back home’ at Gold Reef City Casino in Johannesburg where we began in 2000 is a landmark step, and allows us time to schedule major international bookings for 2009-10. Donating our opening night income to HIV/Aids relief is equally important,” he says. “Sadly, we have lost two of our company in recent years to the disease. Being branded The People’s Musical is a responsibility we don’t take lightly. We all deserve the right to live our dream.”

Both choreographers behind African Footprint’s genesis in 2000, Debbie Rakusin and David Matamela, are now judges for SABC1’s version of the hit American reality series So You Think You Can Dance, which starts screening during the stage musical’s run at Gold Reef City.

“David and I have believed since 2000 that African Footprint had the potential to become a massive international success,” says Debbie. “I travel often to Europe and the States, and today I rate it as good as benchmark hits like The Lion King and Chorus Line. It proves that our own talent is world class, and that unknowns competing in So You Think You Can Dance can aspire to reach the top in our stage musicals”.

For more information, visit www.africanfootprint.com.