Come to the cabaret

Between them, Linder, De Pinna and Smith have over a century’s experience on the cabaret stage. Despite this, and many years’ friendship, however, the trio will perform together for the first time when they appear in ‘Two’s Company…Three’s a Show’, a “liquorice allsorts” (in Smith’s words) of comedy, repartee and songbook standards, at Foxwood Theatre from 21 November.

“It’ll make you feel happy, which we all need to feel,” said the multi-award winning Linder, who was once the only female cabaret singer on the South African stage.

Work-shopped by its seasoned cast, the show is, as Linder says, an interlude of Christmas escapism to distract audiences from their South African ‘gloom and doom’. This musical extravaganza sees Linder, De Pinna and Smith belting out old favourites from their long repertoires, accompanied by guest musician and clarinet maestro, Sam Sklair. The numbers are loosely woven together by a thread of dialogue that ranges from nostalgic celebration of three long, versatile careers, to musing on themes of love and loss, and even includes some stand-up comedy. “It’s a melting pot of all our passions,” said People’s Theatre co-producer and director Smith, explaining that the intimate, honest nature of cabaret reduces performance to its essence and forces performers to rely on nothing but their own skill for success.

“You’ve got to interpret the lyric,” added Da Pinna, whom many know better as the leopard print-clad yuppie of Vodacom’s ‘Yebo Gogo’ adverts, and now a host on SABC 3’s new talk show, ‘Tongue in Cheek’.

The purpose of musical theatre, said the trio, is to tell a story through song. ‘Two’s Company, Three’s a Show’ seems set to do just that, in a light-hearted celebration of the genre itself, as well as the legacy of three South African theatre greats.