Review: LAMTA'S COME TOGETHER Will Make You Want to Get up And Dance

The latest dance production from LAMTA is a celebration of so many things - dancing, theatre, music and performance excellence. Sitting at The Theatre on the Bay, watching these talented young performers up on stage, you can easily forget that these are actually students dancing and singing for you. COME TOGETHER is really slick, a lot of fun to watch and will make you want to get up and dance.

The inspiration for this production is the music of the Beatles and their enduring legacy, as well as the incredible number of cover versions that have been created of their songs. The directors, Duane Alexander and Anton Luitingh, have pulled together versions of the best Beatles songs and created a musical journey that takes the audience through the band's career. The array of songs allowed the directors to showcase all kinds of dance styles, great costumes and some excellent lighting and visuals.

I did find that there was maybe too heavy a reliance on the use of projections to tell the story of the Beatles. The videos that were projected were really well done and interesting, but they also left the stage empty of dancers for too long, for me. Speaking of the dancers and the choreography - I loved it. There was a great level of humour and character in so many of the pieces that really felt connected to how cheeky and funny the band members always were in their interviews and public appearances.

My favourite numbers in the show were Blackbird and Yesterday. They just hit the mark perfectly for me in terms of where the performances were pitched and how the dancers committed to their roles on stage.

If you can, get yourself to the Theatre on the Bay this weekend and catch one of the last performances of COME TOGETHER - it's well worth it.

Photo credit: Gustav Klotz Photography

LAMTA'S COME TOGETHER is on at Theatre on the Bay until 25 June. Tickets are available on Computicket for R250.

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