King Kong (1959 musical)

This article is about the 1959 South African jazz musical. For the 2013 Australian musical based on the 1933 film, see King Kong (2013 musical).

King Kong
Original African cast recording
MusicTodd Matshikiza
LyricsTodd Matshikiza
Pat Willams
BookHarry Bloom
Basisthe life of Ezekiel Dlamini
Premiere2 February 1959: Witwatersrand University Great Hallmaver
Productions1959 Johannesburg
1961 West End

King Kong (1959) was a landmark[1] South African jazz-influenced musical, billed at the time as an "all-African jazz opera".

It has been called "an extraordinary musical collaboration that took place in apartheid-torn South Africa.... a model of fruitful co-operation between black and white South Africans in the international entertainment field, and a direct challenge to apartheid."[2] Opening in Johannesburg on 2 February 1959 at Witwatersrand University Great Hall, the musical, based on the life of Ezekiel Dhlamini[3] was an immediate success, with The Star newspaper calling it "the greatest thrill in 20 years of South African theatre-going".[4]

It "swept South Africa like a storm" according to one report,[5] touring the country for two years and playing to record-breaking multi-racial audiences, before being booked for a London production in 1961,[6] by which time it had been seen by some 200,000 South Africans.[4]

  1. ^ John Blacking, "Trends in the Black Music of South Africa, 1959-1969", in Elizabeth May (ed.), Musics of Many Cultures: An Introduction, University of California Press, 1980, p. 197.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "King Kong the Musical 1959–1961". South African History Online.
  4. ^ a b "King Kong, the first All African Jazz Opera", Soul Safari, 10 August 2009.
  5. ^ Abbey Maine, "An African Theatre in South Africa", African Arts, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Summer, 1970), pp. 42–44.
  6. ^ Percy Tucker biography at Just the Ticket.