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Barbara Loots
David Kramer, in collaboration with Cape Town Opera (CTO), presents ORPHEUS MCADOO at the Artscape Theatre until 3 November 2024. It is a musical exploration of the 1890s South African tour of Orpheus McAdoo’s Virginia Jubilee Concert Company. At the time, they sang in a style not heard in the Cape before and left their musical mark on history.
David Kramer first brought the historic story of the African American showman, Orpheus McAdoo and his Virginia Jubilee Singers to the stage in 2015 at the Fugard Theatre, then titled ORPHEUS IN AFRICA. Now it graces the Artscape stage in a new iteration as ORPHEUS MCADOO. The musical is still driven by the vision of creator and director, David Kramer, who has joined forces with Cape Town Opera Company, but the focus of the telling has shifted a bit.
When I initially encountered McAdoo in ORPHEUS IN AFRICA, I was intrigued by the story of this little-known impresario who unbeknownst to many South Africans influenced the cultural music trajectory in the Cape. The musical at that stage felt too long and a bit non-committal as to the climatic focal point of the tale, but that there was a point of interest to explore was nevertheless clear.
With ORPHEUS MCADOO, Kramer has breathed new life into the appealing historic figure. The book, though still lengthy, this time around feels tighter. It can perhaps be made even pithier if the sub-plot of an African drum (the inclusion of which appears a creative choice rather than a historical telling necessity) is redacted: The use of an African drum to establish an ancestral link between Orpheus and Africa is unnecessary, as the musical has suffice heart without it.
Sans the drum, the historically driven narrative (both in prose and verse) feels authentic and emotionally nuanced in the way it invites the audience to invest in the journey of the impresario and his choir. The realities McAdoo faced, along with the gravitas of his persona, is enough for an audience to appreciate the historic influence of the visionary who infused the jubilee sound of his choir with ragtime rhythms in a way that changed the trajectory of the culture of music in South Africa. The fact that Orpheus McAdoo, a child of North Carolina slaves, set out to make a life for himself as a proud, free man with a passion for and understanding of the power of music grabs one’s attention, especially because of his devotion to true artistic expression of the highest quality without demeaning anyone with the use of devices like blackface.
In the musical, as in life, McAdoo’s struggles, dreams and character invites the audience to stand witness to the cruelty of the 1890s and the fact that McAdoo and his choir were treated as too white to fit in with their perceived African sisters and brothers, and too black for the white colonialists who sought them out as novel entertainment in the Cape Colony and beyond.
The underpinning truth that tugs at the heartstrings when one interrogates the McAdoo choir’s journey and legacy is their struggle with the concept of home and the colonial racial prejudice they were confronted with.
Conroy Scott as Orpheus is an inspired casting choice. With his stage presence and phenomenal bass-baritone voice he grabs your attention. Every spiritual song he sings, note-for-note reverberates with gravitas and meaning. His harmonious onstage connection with soprano Brittany Smith (portraying the roll of McAdoo’s wife, Mattie Allen) makes this talented duo a great pair to drive the storyline. The operatic ease with which they and the rest of the classically trained cast belt out numbers is proof that Kramer’s collaboration with Cape Town Opera brings something special to the music at the centre of this musical. The rich tones of the exquisite voices of the opera troupe add depth to the production.
Though real-life struggles are at the centre of McAdoo’s tale of reinvention, the musical doesn’t feel doom and gloom heavy. Kramer has kept the weight of the issues underpinning the play intact without the associated sadness dampening the celebration of music that is integral to McAdoo’s legacy.
In doing so he has called on the particular skill set of Jody Abrahams and Dean Balie, who step into the delightfully amusing and farcical shoes of the Vaudeville performers Egbert Washburn and Ernest Logan. The pair ultimately teams up with McAdoo and his choir to give their jubilee performance style a rhythmic ragtime appeal.
The energetic performances of Abrahams and Balie are a delight. They have the audience in the palm of their hands from their first peak through the curtains. Their comedic timing paired with their musical stylings keep the melancholy at bay.
Elton Landrew and Eldon van der Merwe also leave their mark on this production.
Landrew as the abusive Vaudeville show boss, Curtis, with slave-owner tendencies and a penchant for gambling, acts as juxtaposition to McAdoo’s unwavering belief that you don’t have to belittle performers and their culture to entertain. While McAdoo is by no means portrayed as a man without flaws, Curtis’ contrasting endeavours place a spotlight on the weight of McAdoos decisions to reimagine the jubilee choir’s style with their dignity intact.
Van der Merwe plays McAdoo’s brother, Richard McAdoo, a man fighting his own liquor conjured demons. His reaction to the racial prejudices push his impresario brother to look at their circumstances from various perspectives. Richard McAdoo also turns out to be a pivotal character in setting up the scene to introduce the popular appeal of ragtime (as represented by Washburn and Logan) to McAdoo and his choir.
As Washburn, Logan and Richard McAdoo find common ground in diversity welcoming pubs, their steadily developing friendship catapults the musical towards its climax. Some of these moments of camaraderie also include the marvelous talents of CTO members Danielle Speckman as Mamie Harris and Ernestine Nur Stuurman as Belle Gibson, as the choir members who are first introduced to the ragtime appeal.
ORPHEUS MCADOO is a creative union between singers who can act, and actors who can sing, with Kramer tapping into the cast’s unique set of skills to bring to musical life the tale of an exceptional man.
This musical has some memorable moments and numbers. The cast move as a unit and there never appears to be a moment of discomfort as they navigate their way through the production: It feels as if they have been performing as a unit for years, each allowing the other’s talent the space to shine to amplify the story as a collective. This makes for an easy watch of a true ensemble driven show.
The costume design by Martha Visagie is beautiful and does a great job at contextualizing the musical, giving it an appropriate period piece feel. The set design by Kramer (complimented by the light design of Faheem Bardien) has a similar effect (using a mix of historic building projections and physical platforms at various levels) for most of the production. The set design transports the audience to the time and place of McAdoo and his Virginia Jubilee Singers for most of the show. But then, right towards the theatrical climax it breaks the illusion by dressing the stage in bright orange backdrops with clipart style music notes projected onto it in a manner that feels out of place with the character of the musical up to that point. The set design for the big number finale just felt jarring and out of sync with the identity of the musical as set up by the preceding scenes.
Apart from a few creative indulgences that do not necessarily stand in service of the production as a whole, ORPHEUS MCADOO serves up impressive musical numbers and sleek performances.
Kramer’s ORPHEUS MCADOO, presented in collaboration with Cape Town Opera, is onstage at the Artscape Theatre until 3 November 2024. It is a family friendly show that feeds the soul that reveals how music can be a maker of legends and a catalyst for change. Tickets can be booked online through Webtickets.