((I think we better get Broken-Arsed Mountain copyrighted pronto!! ::) 8) ::) ))
Bangbroek Mountain: The Musical About Camping
By Theresa Smith
Director: Fred Abrahamse
Music: Charl-Johan Lingenfelder
Cast: Marcel Meyer, Grant Almirall, Lilian Khumalo, Dorothy Engelbrecht, Marguerita Freeks
Venue: On Broadway, Shortmarket Street, Cape Town until January 6
Having a merry old time during the silly season takes on new meaning at On Broadway this year with a deliciously camp experience.
While clearly a send-up of the movie Brokeback Mountain, the musical is also original with inventive lyrics and jokes flying left, right and centre.
It's laugh-a-minute with Jacques and Emmil, from the moment they meet at Voortrekker camp on Bangbroek Mountain, through their clandestine meetings on the mountain until they end up together 40 years later. Or not, as the audience decides.
Depending on what the audience votes for at half-time, the musical either has a sad ending or a happy ending and the sheer volume of spoilt votes on media night meant the sappy sentimentalists won out for a happy ending.
Whether you have watched the film or not you can guess what's coming, but they still manage to make it a novel experience.
They are telling the story of two guys who are hemmed in by circumstance and doomed never to be together simply because they are two guys. But at the same time ripping off society's pre-occupation with "normal".
The entire experience is entertaining, fun, a tad poignant and above all, imaginative. Yes, it's a spoof of the movie but the dialogue is oh-so-South African and the music is completely new.
The story starts off in the 1960s and moves through the decades, which is reflected in the music. Though the melodic theme is evident throughout the tone changes through to 1970s funk, 1980s disco and beyond.
Three Tons of Fun produce the goods as the Cowletts, playing a sort of Greek chorus.
For the most part the story belongs to the guys, though every now and then they do interact with the gals, even if it is just to shut them up.
The guys can act, sing and never break out of character, though there was a twitch or two which threatened to blow up in laughter.
Luckily the dialogue flows fast, so they have to concentrate and get beyond the potential breakdown point.
http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3566042&fSectionId=378&fSetId=251