Theatre
“Saro will give audience goose pimples” –Directors
Directors of upcoming broadway play, Saro the Musical, have said that the audience are bound to have a swell time when it mounts the stage at the weekend.
Produced by the Managing Director of Terra Kulture, Lagos, Bolanle Austen-Peters, the play to be premiered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, has some four directors handling different aspects of the production.
These are Makinde Adeniran, who is the executive artistic director; Ayo Ajayi, director of dance; Gbenga Yusuf, director of dance; and Zmirage boss, Alhaji Teju Kareem, who is the technical consultant.
On what should be the audience’s expectation from the play that tells the story of Lagos in elaborate musical and dramatic performances, Adeniran notes that it promises an unlimited entertainment and a lot to reflect upon. Citing the example of the four youths who leave their local community for Lagos, in search of the city’s goodies, he explains that there are reasons to help youths to moderate the impulse to run away from home, thinking that it is only abroad that their destinies can thrive.
“We need to look hard into the education we have to pass across because the generation is in a more difficult situation,” Adeniran says. “It is the generation referred to as jet age; everything is coming their way but they don’t have a strand to hold it logically for them. If they are not careful, they are doomed. If they are over careful, they don’t survive.
“Saro is the greener pastures that we all seek, whether in project, in moving from environment and all of that. Most importantly, it is the journey of the determination to succeed. What are the expectations?
“The four boys in SARO left their village, saying, ‘When we get to Lagos we will meet fame’ but when they got to Lagos the first thing they are confronted with is the character of the environment. Not necessarily because it’s good or bad; it is because it is out of equation for them. It landes them in the cell. So, it is that actual philosophy of ‘what if’.”
But noting that the real message of Saro is never to give up on one’s dream, Ajayi says he is very sure guests have not seen music in the form they are presenting before.
He adds, “We’re going to delve into the historical archive of Nigerian music in the 60s, 70s and the recent genres of this generation. Merge them, to give everyone a memorable experience.”
For Yussuf, the production is a big plus for Nigerian cultural professionals and their fans. He says, “For the first time, a complete musical is happening in Nigeria and in Lagos, produced entirely by Nigerians with no foreign influence.”
Also speaking on the magnitude of the play – with a 100-man cast – Kareem notes, “All I can say is that if you want goose pimples, come and watch Saro. I’m promising you goose pimples because Saro is going to do the same thing it has done to the Executive Producer, Mrs. Bolanle Austen-Peters. What has it done to her? SARO has eaten her up. She has taken a plunge into it and she has been consumed by the project Saro and she has not spared any of us that she brought into the project. Every one of us, every actor has been eaten up by Saro; we eat, live, drink, sleep and breathe Saro. We quarrel about Saro. We’re happy about Saro. Believe me, anybody that comes into that hall and will see Saro The Musical is going to be super entertained.”
http://www.punchng.com/feature/literary-punch/saro-will-give-audience-goose-pimples-directors/
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