Sean Bovim likes an all-or-nothing approach. Go big or go home really, which means that audiences have come to expect glamour, pizzazz, unexpected choreographic combinations, stylish sets, clever props and great dancing from this artistic director. Oh, and don't forget the programme keepsake; it's the one you won't be able to bring yourself to throw away.
Bovim not only gives audiences what they want, which means he gets the box office takings he needs to stage an annual spectacular, but he also attracts dancers who clamour to be part of his company.
Private Presley opens tonight at Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. It runs for nine performances only until 7 April and tickets are selling fast. Go figure. It's all in the entertainment formula - fabulous music carefully selected from the roughly 700 songs performed by Elvis Presley, exciting choreography and innovative stage action.
All ages will love it if the preview rehearsal is anything to go by. Love Me Tender, Suspicious Minds, Jailhouse Rock, Blue Suede Shoes and some memorable medleys are just some of the numbers to look forward to.
Craig Port and KLÛK/CGDT have designed the costumes, Ulrich Binedell took care of the set and lighting design was placed in the expert hands of Faheem Bardien. "Private Presley is a rock 'n roll ballet that juggles full-speed, fun and energetic group dance numbers with intimate, heart-wrenching love duets. Not only did this era bring out some of the most explosive dance styles of the 20th century, but it also gave us Presley's inspirational and intuitive ballads that pull at the heart strings of all who loved the enigmatic Elvis and his pioneering music."
But ballet dancers doing the jive? En pointe? "Just wait and see," says Bovim.
The cast includes Henk Opperman (Freddie Mercury in Queen at the Ballet and winner of Dans Dans Dans), Devon Marshbank (signed to Universal Music), Tanya Futter (African Footprint), Nicola van der Merwe (lead in Queen at the Ballet), Steven van Wyk (Master Time in Queen at the Ballet, Dirty Dancing), Faye Dubinski (lead in Queen at the Ballet), James Bradley (Beauty and the Beast, African Footprint), LLewellyn Mnguni, Elzanne Crause (Phantom of the Opera), Louisa Talbot (High School Musical), Zandile Constable, Sven-Eric Müller (Waterfront Theatre School graduate), Ché Milani, Ipeleng Merafe, Simoné Botha (Miss Deaf SA), Grant van Ster, JV Mattei, Megan Black, Martin Harding, Cindy Okkers and Umbulelo Ngubombeni.
Private Presley is at Cape Town's Artscape Theatre from 27 March to 7 April. Tickets are available from Computicket.
