Musical theatre lovers will soon be able to see a tribute to all the big musicals that theatre veteran, Pieter Toerien, has produced since Cats in 2001 at Theatre on the Bay from Wednesday November 27. This is as the students of the Luitingh Alexander Musical Theatre Academy (LAMTA) are doing their end of year student musical theatre production.
Situated on the top floor of Theatre on the Bay in Camps Bay, the academy is a full-time tertiary institution for the performing arts and is especially geared for training triple-threat performers (performers who excel at singing, dancing and acting) for a career in musical theatre.
Co-director Anton Luitingh said both LAMTA directors, himself and Duane Alexander, have had the privilege of being a part of big musicals done by Mr Toerien for the past 18 years. He said they were now sharing their experiences with their students. “This is to tip our caps to Mr Toerien and not only thank him for the amazing space that he’s given us but also what he’s given the industry for 18 years,” he said.
Mr Luitingh said they’ve chosen songs out of his entire 18 years of hit musicals from Cats to his last one, Matilda, with the students. “We did this with our students and since this is our inaugural year, we wanted to give our students an opportunity to shine and show their singing voices,” he said.
The students will be joined by some big industry names such as Bethany Dickson, Loukmaan Adams, Edith Plaatjies and Sven-Eric Muller.
“We always believe strongly that even though we’re performing, people mustn’t forget that this is a training academy and we’re teaching our students so to bring these big names is another way of teaching them how professionals work in the industry,” he said.
He said their focus is always on the triple-threat performer and every year they try to produce a class of students who will deliver high quality work in the industry.
“We train them up to become the new generation of professionals who will continue to be in the shows that Mr Toerien will (hopefully) continue doing for the next 10 years,” he said.
Mr Luitingh promised that the show will be nostalgic as people will look back and be reminded of the shows Mr Toerien produced. “It will be a reminder of all the wonderful shows that he brought here and even though they are not full shows, little bits here and there, it will bring back great memories,” he said.
He said this will be a showcase of the future talent that the audience can look forward to seeing in a few years when the students are fully trained.
He promised a show that is an explosion of musical theatre with extremely diverse hits that will entertain audiences of all ages and leave them wanting more.
The show runs from November 27 to December 7 at Theatre on the Bay. Book via Computicket.
