*Kat & Kings Takes Off for International Tour
Date: 29 June 1998
The South African musical Kat and the Kings has posted closing notices for 1 August 1998, cutting short a booking period that had been open to 10 October.
Joy Sapieka, spokeswoman for the show which opened at the Vaudeville Theatre 23 March 1998, insisted that Kat and the Kings was not closing early. She told What's On Stage that “because of the nature of the show” it was always meant to be a limited run. The entire cast is South African and have been abroad for some time. They will now take a one-month holiday to visit home before returning to embark on new tours.
The production, with the West End cast, will first tour the UK before a New York run to begin in January 1999 which will be followed by a run in Toronto in June. Firm offers are also in hand to follow with engagements in Japan, Holland and Australia. From November, a second company, soon to be cast, will kick off a European tour in Frankfurt.
Sapieka did concede that, despite positive reviews, Kat and the Kings has faced a difficult battle for the minds and money of theatregoers with a slew of bigger musicals and Broadway transfers opened in the West End this year. “It's a small musical with a small budget,” said Sapieka. “It's got a lot to compete against.”
The Cape Town musical was the first South African musical to open in London since the advent of majority rule in South Africa. Based on the real life memories of the show's star, Sallie Daniels, Kat and the Kings offers a glimpse of the ‘Cape Coloured , or mixed race, community of Cape Town through the story of a talented but ‘non-white young band that couldn't compete with apartheid.
Kat and the Kings has had several successful runs in South Africa and came to the West End via acclaimed runs at the north-west London fringe venue, the Tricycle Theatre.
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