TheatreguideLondon
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Kat and the Kings
Tricycle Theatre, Winter 2003-2004

This musical from South Africa had its British premiere at the Tricycle in 1997, then transferred to the West End, where it won the 1999 Olivier, and has toured Europe before this return visit.

Set in the late 1950s, it tells of some young coloured (i.e., mixed-race and thus subject to all the apartheid laws) guys who rise from streetcorner singers to local celebrities as a rhythm-and-blues group, only to have their careers cut short by the ceiling of prejudice.

If the story is somewhat predictable (though no less sad and shocking for that), the evening is carried along on the high energy of more than thirty original songs by the show's creators, David Kramer and Taliep Peterson, that are first-rate pastiches of 1950s-style blues, ballads, calypso and hard-driving rock'n'roll with no-doubt conscious echoes of  Leiber and Stoller.

I didn't see the original, but I'm told that the script has been revised a bit, and one song added, to strengthen the anti-apartheid message. I suspect that was a mistake, or at least unnecessary, since the evils of prejudice are obvious enough not to need underlining, and some of the strongest critical points the show makes are more subtle.

The fact that the show is narrated by one of the boys more than thirty years later, and that he is now just a shoeshine man, says more about the lingering effects of racism than any overt preaching. And when the white owner of a hotel where the group is hired assumes that they'll double as bellboys during the day, the guys (and the show's creators) score by turning their bellboy uniforms into costumes and incorporating the intended insult into their act.

Meanwhile, it is notable that the songs of complaint or anger about apartheid are the weakest, both musically and dramatically. But co-author David Kramer has wisely directed the show with an emphasis on the positive, and you could enjoy it, if you were so inclined, just on the level of the infectious songs and dances.

The show warms up slowly as it lures us into its world, but things really cut loose in the second half, as we see the group's cabaret act - there's a black light dance number that is one of the cleverest and funniest I've ever seen -  and later in an extended string of encores that has the audience on its feet.

Danny Butler plays the narrating older Kat, providing a tone of distanced bemusement that balances out the script's angrier moments, and incidentally demonstrating some smooth dance moves that belie his years. Emraan Adams as the young Kat and Abigail Petersen as the girl who helps shape the boys into a polished act lead the younger cast.

Come for the only-occasionally heavy-handed social message or just for the rock'n'roll. In either case, you'll have a great time.

Gerald Berkowitz

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Review - Kat and the Kings - Tricycle 2003