Isango Ensemble's THE MAGIC FLUTE Begins Today at the New Vic

Making its Off-Broadway debut at The New Victory Theater from today, November 1 - November 9, Isango Ensemble's Young Vic production of The Magic Flute: Impempe Yomlingo reimagines Mozart's masterpiece opera with a South African context. Featuring township percussion, an orchestra of marimbas and a cast of more than thirty vibrant voices from the townships surrounding Cape Town, and winner of the 2008 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival and a Globes de Cristal for Best Opera, this Magic Flute dazzles with drama, comedy and the sublime joy of finding true love.

Lauded for reinventing western classics within a South African setting, Isango Ensemble creates a brilliant fusion of fairy tale and African myth in The Magic Flute: Impempe Yomlingo. Director Mark Dornford-May cleverly weaves traditional African ritual into the original story while musical director Mandisi Dyantyis enlivens classic arias with exhilarating percussive music in the form of glass bottles filled with water, large metal oil barrels, hand clapping and ululation along with djembes. Sung in English with dialogue in English and South African languages, including the company's native Xhosa, this inspired production shines especially bright when Pauline Malefane performs her acclaimed interpretation of the Queen of the Night.

Astounding in this demanding high coloratura role, Malefane is a talent with considerable range. Prior to The Magic Flute, she performed the mezzo-soprano title role in U-Carmen, Isango's adaptation of Bizet's opera. Having made her Proms debut at London's Royal Albert Hall with the songs of Kurt Weill in 2006, Malefane's incredible talent has garnered her worldwide attention. In 2009, she was invited by conductor Sir Simon Rattle to perform in a series of broadcast concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Formerly called Isango Portobello, and before that Dimpho Di Kopane, Isango was last seen in New York in 2004 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine as part of Season South Africa, a program for which the company performed four pieces in repertory over a five-week period: The Mysteries: Yiimimangaliso, The Beggar's Opera: Ibali loo Tsotsi, The Snow Queen: IKumkanikazi yeKhephu and U-Carmen, which was later adapted into the film U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and a Cannes Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival selection.

As with their stage productions of Venus and Adonis (Shakespeare's Globe "Globe to Globe" Festival 2013), La Boheme (Hackney Empire), A Christmas Carol: Ikrismas Kherol (Young Vic, Whatsonstage Theatregoers Choice Award) and The Mysteries: Yiimimangaliso (Garrick, West End), Isango takes classics from the Western theater canon and finds a new context for the stories within a township setting, thereby creating inventive work relevant to the heritage of South Africans.

The Magic Flute: Impempe Yomlingo features the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart transposed for an orchestra of marimbas. The score is arranged by Pauline Malefane and Mandisi Dyantyis, who also conducts. Choreography is by Lungelo Ngamlana and costumes are by Leigh Bishop. In addition to Pauline Malefane as the Queen of the Night, the cast includes Mhlekazi Mosiea/Sonwabo Ntshata as Tamino, Zamile Gantana/Luvo Rasemeni as Papageno, Bongiwe Mapassa/Zolina Ngejane as Pamina, Ayanda Eleki/Ayanda Tikolo as Sarastro, Siyasanga Mbuyazwe/Nontsusa Louw as Papagena, Thobile Dyasi/Sinethemba Mdena as Monostatos and Noluthando Boqwana, Zoleka Mpotsha and Bususiwe Ngejane as the Three Spirits. Nontsusa Louw, Siyanda Ncobo and Cikizwa Ndamase play the Queen's three ladies-in-waiting, Zebulon Mmusi plays the Priest, Sifiso Lupuzi and Tukela Pepeteka play the Armed Man and Zanele Mbatha and Masakhane Sotayisi complete the ensemble.

Produced by Eric Abraham and the Young Vic, The Magic Flute played in repertory with A Christmas Carol: Ikrismas Kherol at the Young Vic before transferring to the Duke of York's Theatre for a season in the West End and a sold-out season at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. For the production's U.S. tour, The Magic Flute: Impempe Yomlingo makes its American debut at Washington, D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre Company and will additionally tour to Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Santa Monica's The Broad Stage, among others.

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