Mbongeni Ngema

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that playwright Mbongeni Ngema has died at age 68, following a car accident. Ngema was best known for writing the musical Sarafina!, which premiered on Broadway in 1988, and was later adapted into a film starring Whoopi Goldberg in 1992.

Get the latest news on Disney's The Lion King North American Tour as Mukelisiwe Goba makes a triumphant return as 'Rafiki'. Find out all the details and dates for this highly anticipated production.

As The Apollo gears up for a historic 2023 with the opening of The Apollo's Victoria Theater and the renovation of the Historic Theater, the iconic Harlem nonprofit announced additional upcoming concerts, comedy shows, and educational programs for the winter and spring of 2023.

Theatre Communications Group has announced the eighth iteration of TCG Books Presents, featuring Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky in conversation with Gregory Mosher on YouTube Live, Friday, October 28, 2022 at 1:00pm ET.

Broadwayworld had the pleasure of interviewing Crossroads Theatre Company's Artistic Director, Ricardo Khan about his career and the season ahead.

The South African State Theatre has announced that veteran performer Bheki Mkhwane will no longer be part of Bopha's season -starting from 25 May to 13 June 2021- after being booked off sick for four weeks.

Theatre Communications Group has announced the 2021 TCG 60th Anniversary Gala: Our Stories will be held virtually on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 7:30pm ET with an afterparty to follow. The Gala will honor Ricardo Khan and the Performing Arts Alliance, and both the Gala and virtual live afterparty will be hosted by drag superstar Shequida. 

A presentation of excerpts of the musical drama Sheila's Day is being streamed as part of Crossroads Theatre Company's commemorative programming celebrating Women's History Month.  It will stream March 2 through March 23 on the Crossroads website. 

 As part of 'New Federal Theatre Celebrates Black History Month,' Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre is offering a live streaming virtual reading of 'Widows' by Mfundi Vundla on February 27 at 7:00 PM. The reading will be available on-demand through March 1. 

Founded at the end of last year, local production company HOW NOW BROWN COW has launched a new and exciting writing programme. As one of the participants of its first instalment — director, playwright and academic Greg Homann chats to BroadwayWorld about his writing and his involvement with THE WRITERS' COLLECTIVE.

Giraffes strut, birds swoop, gazelles leap - the entire Serengeti comes to life on stage each night in The Lion King. The Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Disney's much-loved film transports audiences to a dazzling world of glorious colors, stunning effects and enchanting music to tell the story of Simba and his epic journey from wide-eyed cub to his destined role as King of the Pridelands.

Acclaimed South African theatre luminaries, Mbongeni Ngema and Percy Mtwa, reprise their original roles - created some 40 years ago - in one of this country's most brilliant and popular classics, Woza Albert!, at the Baxter Flipside from 5 February to 2 March 2019 at 7.30pm and Saturday matinees at 2pm.

The eighth annual 2018 Zabalaza Theatre Festival to showcase some 40 productions by dynamic young theatre-makers from all over the Western Cape.

The Suitcase brings together a unique partnership of venues in the North of England and the Market Theatre Johannesburg, marking the internationally renowned theatre company's return to the UK after a five year absence.

The 2017 Tony nominations were announced this morning. If you haven't checked them out yet, what are you waiting for?! CLICK HERE to check out a full list of this year's nominees, and HERE for reactions from the lucky few!

It was no unlucky Friday the 13th for South Africa's theatre community when BroadwayWorld's Regional Managing Editor Christina Mancuso released the names of the of the winners of the 2016 BroadwayWorld South Africa Awards.

WOZA ALBERT! remains an incredibly powerful play. That it can withstand mediocre productions and still, more or less, manage to resonate with an audience is a testament to what Ngema, Mtwa and Simon achieved 35 years ago. When the real WOZA ALBERT! stands up, it takes no prisoners. It is a play that reminds us of the journey we have travelled, and the long way we still have to go.

Writer-director Koleka Putuma's assemblage of ideas and motifs in WOZA SARAFINA! is constructed within the context of the #RhodesMustFall movement and is informed by the ideologies that underpin that movement. While it speaks many truths, the play never finds a way to deliver more than just "the feels".

The Mann Center for the Performing Arts will present the musical Sarafina! to kick off the Mann's 2016 Young People's Concert Series on June 14. This special performance, presented by the Mann, Howard University's Department of Theater Arts and NEWorks Productions, is a musical inspired by the 1976 Soweto Student Uprising, when more than 10,000 South African youth boldly defended their right to an education that affirmed their cultural identity and heritage. Now, 40 years later, the inspiring story of these brave South African students comes to life on the Mann's main stage in this production by Howard University. Sarafina! is Directed by Eric Ruffin with choreography by Jakari Sherman, the book, music and lyrics are by Mbongeni Ngema and arranged by Mbongeni Ngema and Hugh Masekela.

With a career spanning seventy years in the theatre, Lucille Lortel's life mission was to help nurture emerging innovative playwrights.