| 20 August 2010
Following the story of one young man’s dream to become a footballer, the Zambezi Express shares a story of hope, community, love and spirit in this classic musical piece. The combination of tribal drumbeats, infectious dance routines and beautiful a capella singing that accompany the storyline could have enlivened this piece to a higher level of performance than the predictable storyline dictates. Unfortunately the talented cast of 30 lacked the subject matter to make this possible.
The premise of the story led the hero on a predictable journey of self-discovery, with the token bad guy and love interest inserted almost as afterthoughts. Many scenes played out quite childishly, such as the eliminations for the football team, which led to the inevitable victory of the protagonist within seconds, and with a deficiency in character development exchanges remained shallow and impersonal. Whilst the creative potential to turn Zambezi Express into a visual spectacular was barely realised, the group choreography largely consisting of lines and circles when all of the cast were so physically able that they could have achieved much more.
The beauty and unity of the cast’s rhythm and music is undeniable, though, and for pure sound quality, they carry the performance through its weak scripting and make it a musical worth experiencing.
Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 6-30 Aug (not 23), 12 noon
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