By BRUCE DENNILL
Mzansi Ballet: The Neil Diamond Show / Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg
Neil Diamond remains a somewhat polarising musical figure – undeniably influential and important, and with sales to support his mainstream popularity, which anyone who has ever been in the middle of a group singing the chorus to Sweet Caroline (or found themselves yelling out the “ba b aba!” bit) can attest to. So it’s interesting that this show, featuring choreography set to a number of Diamond hits both instantly familiar and shrug-inducing for the non-afficianado also features Diamond’s interpretations of the work of others (Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine, Ritchie Valens’ version of the folk song La Bamba, Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen’s If You Go Away). This definitely aids accessibility on the musical side, leaving non-Diamond disciples to focus on the work of the dancers.
The show is a pleasing mix of larger ensemble work, with most of the cast included in choreography for Umbrella, Smokey Lady and Morningside and a trio of couples weaving around and between each other for the opening, high-energy I’m A Believer as well as the power pair of America and Beautiful Noise later in the production. Perhaps the best moments involve the more focused drama of a pas de deux. In the first act, to the stirring strains of Diamond and Barbra Streisand singing You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore, the tall, muscled Mahlatse Sachane and petite, precise Kiana Rose combine beautifully to match the music’s emotion with their movement. In the latter half of the show, Sachane partners with the experienced and consistently superb Angela Revie for an affecting, vivid physical interpretation of If You Go Away.
These three dancers are the cast standouts, with Sachane getting plenty of stage time as a sort of character link between songs that helps to provide continuity in what is not a scripted story, but a sequenced collection of standalone musical numbers.
All of the action takes place against – or sometimes in or inside – a giant diamond prop that is cleverly incorporated into the choreography, including in ways that showcase both the athleticism and the courage of the dancers, who pull themselves up a long way above the stage. There are also regular costume changes with almost no time available in which to complete them, so congratulations must also go the dressers who get their charges turned around so quickly.