Thebe Mabanga
The legacy of South Africa’s literary icon Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda, known
internationally as Zakes, is about to be further entrenched when his first adult
novel Ways of Dying takes to the stage as a musical called Love and Green Onions.
The novel has already been successfully dramatised by Lara Foot Newton in a stage version that starred Nomsa Nene and Mncedisi Shabangu, among others. Now
the lives of Toloki an eccentric, professional mourner and his sultry lover
Noria take on a musical proportion as opera composer Michael Williams expresses
Mda’s magical realism in sound.
“Ways of Dying is a magical, wonderful, surreal look at South African life,”
says Williams. “I was struck by the intensity with which Mda created a world
that is not accessible. The way in which Mda transforms a bleak world also impressed me.”
For his 11th major work, Williams has chosen jazz and opera. “I chose jazz because the book sings. I feel jazz is the best vehicle to carry the emotion.”
But then, as with all adapted novels, parts of the story are left out. All the
elements of the book are distilled into the love story between Noria and Toloki.
The role of Noria is played by jazz diva in the making Gloria Bosman, still basking in the mild success of her second album, The Many Faces of Gloria Bosman. “Singing jazz in an opera setting has been quite an experience,” says
Bosman. “I think Noria is representative of a lot of South African girls.”
Bosman says Noria’s difficulty in negotiating life’s upheavals mirrors the experiences of many women trying to make it in a “so-called man’s world”.
But what fascinates Bosman the most is the opportunity to set the tone of how
Noria should be portrayed in an opera. Last year’s winner of the Standard Bank
Young Artist Award is joined by this year’s recipient of the same accolade, baritone Fikile Mvinjelwa.
Mvinjelwa’s star will rise even further with his inclusion in this production,
which he performs concurrently with an Evening With Verdi at the Standard Bank
National Arts Festival. His character’s love for Noria and fetish for Swiss rolls and green onions inspired the title. Later this year one of the biggest
roles for a baritone, Verdi’s Rigoletto, beckons.
Williams relishes the prospect of returning to the Grahamstown festival and remains confident of its future. “I think we have something to be proud of that
we need to support.” His mission as a composer: “I want to create South African
operas that we can take to the world as an established part of an international
repertoire. We must show the world that we do not only have great singers but
also great stories to tell.”
Williams’s repertoire includes works such as Prophet of God, Sacred Bones and
Buchuland. He is the managing director of the Cape Town Opera and mentions with
pride the work it did with Pauline Malefane, who earlier this year starred in
Carmen and, following a performance in London, has been offered an opportunity
to study with the celebrated soprano Grace Bumbry.
Marcus de Sando as Bhutshaddy completes the cast of the musical. In the pit will
be a 13-piece jazz band under the baton of Graham Scott to the music of acclaimed composer Denzil Weale.