The Teatro at Montecasino celebrates five years of award-winning entertainment

The Teatro at Montecasino this year celebrates five years of entertainment excellence as well as becoming a significant contributor to the theatrical arts in South Africa, since it first opened its doors to the world-class production of Disney's The Lion King on 22 May 2007.

In five short years the Teatro has quickly become renowned for the stellar quality of shows it offers, hosting productions that cannot be seen anywhere else in Africa. The range of productions hosted by the Teatro since it opened includes Broadway musicals, ballet, ice shows, international jazz, comedy shows, opera, gospel, rock, electronic pop, and more.

Amongst the top international productions seen at the Teatro have been Grease, Mamma Mia!, Chicago, Cats, Dreamgirls, Disney's High School Musical, Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, The Imperial Ice Stars' Nutcracker on Ice, Swan Lake on Ice and Cinderella on Ice, and many others.

The Teatro's fifth birthday will be celebrated during the season of the phenomenally successful Broadway hit, Andrew Lloyd Webbers' The Phantom of the Opera, which has played to more than 100 million people in 149 cities around the world. The full-scale South African production of The Phantom of the Opera has performed to capacity audiences since it opened on 31 January this year, and was recently extended for the second time due to overwhelming public demand.

Further acclaim for the South African production of The Phantom of the Opera was achieved at the 47th annual Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards held at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town in March, when actor and singer Jonathan Roxmouth won the award for best performance by a leading actor in a musical/musical theatre for his role as The Phantom, Robin Botha won best performance by a leading actress in a musical/musical theatre for her role as Christine, and Angela Kilian won best performance by a supporting actress in a musical/musical theatre for her role as Madame Giry.

The Teatro at Montecasino's reputation as the home of award-winning theatrical entertainment was again highlighted at the Naledi Theatre Awards recently where nine awards were presented to cast and production teams on a variety of Teatro-hosted shows.