Part of the Maputo International Music Festival, the May 10 concert entitled "Something's Coming" starred Ewoldt (Les Miz) as Maria, Kern (Wicked) as Tony, Cortez (A Chorus Line) as Anita, Jablonski (Cry-Baby) as Riff and Blonski (West Side Story) as Graziella.
Greg Ganakas directed a cast that also featured 17 Mozambican singers and dancers in the ensemble. Moira Forjaz produced.
Ewoldt shares an array of shots of travel, rehearsal, performance and the many stunning sights to be seen in the nation's capital city.
We begin our journey with three days of rehearsal at New York's Chelsea Studios
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Kevin Kern (Tony) shows us where we're going! Mozambique is on the Eastern Coast of Africa and north of South Africa.
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From left to right: Karolina Blonski (Graziella), Greg Ganakas (director), Michael Jablonski (Riff), Paul Hardt (casting), Natalie Cortez (Anita) and Kyle Norris who was our NY music director.
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Karolina stands in for Bernardo while Michael rehearses his "death."
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Natalie and I rehearse "A Boy Like That/I Have a Love."
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Natalie, Kevin and I check-in at the airport and prepare for our 14 hour flight!
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Our visa photos in Maputo, Mozambique some 16 hours (and a layover in South Africa later). We look a little tired...
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We are so happy to arrive at our beautiful hotel in Maputo!
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At the Hotel Cardoso (clearly this picture was not taken directly after our flight!).
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The Hotel Cardoso pool is pretty incredible!
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Karolina, Michael and Kevin soak up some "winter" rays.
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Sunsets over the city and Maputo Bay are pretty spectacular from our hotel too!
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But pools and sunsets aside, we are here to do West Side Story! Here's our theater, an old (not terribly well kept) movie theater, Teatro Gil Vicente.
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And here's our cast! We had 17 incredible local Mozambican performers!
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Karolina gets right to work with 2 of the Sharks, Dani and Mario. Dani was our dance captain and learned much of the original Jerome Robbins choreography from the movie and taught it to the other dancers before we arrived!
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Kevin tests out one of our "balconies."
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My initial feeling about riding on the "balconies..."
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...but I soon started having fun!
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Karolina demostrates the "Scherzo" part of the ballet.
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Michael and the Jets work on "Cool."
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Natalie talks to Dani and Elisangela about "Dance At The Gym."
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Kevin sings "Maria" with our music director, Steve Zegree, a jazz pianist and professor at Western Michigan University.
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Greg explores "Somewhere" with local singer Lenna Bahule
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Greg directs the transition into "Cool." Pay special attention to the flashlights...they'll play an important role later!
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As we have very limited rehearsal time (most of our dancers work until 6 PM every day), multi-tasking is a must. Karolina works on "Cool" in the foreground while Greg, Michael and Natalie clean up "America."
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The currency in Mozambique is the Metical. The bills feature a picture of Samora Machel, Mozambique's revolutionary leader and first President from 1975-1986.
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Machel's statue stands in front of the Conselho Municipal (City Hall) where Kevin and I are asked to sing "Tonight" for the Festival's opening Gala
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At the end of the concert, Kika Materula, an oboist in the Portugese National Orchestra and a native of Maputo, leads the crowd in the National Anthem.
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Post concert with Dani, Natalie, Mario, me, Mariana, Hayato Ishibashi (incredible American violinist), Kevin, Lucilia, Steve and our amazing producer, Moira Forjaz.
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Walking around alone in Maputo was not recommended, so our wonderful driver, David, took us all over the city.
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The Maptuo city scape was very varied. Here's an apartment building.
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Some of the city looked very modern.
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For example, the "trinta e tres andares" (33 Story Building) is the tallest building in Maputo.
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Some of the city was in terrible disrepair.
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Vendors selling fruit and other goods.
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Brightly colored advertisments on the sides of stores and residences were very common.
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We saw many women carrying remarkable things on their heads--this woman also has a baby on her back!
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And many men managed to fit in the back of a pick-up truck.
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Back to work at the theater, Natalie rehearses "America" with Rosa and Elisangela.
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Greg looks on as Michael rehearses "Cool."
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"Cool!"
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In a last minute change, Greg decides to have Dani play Bernardo! Here's Kevin helping him to learn his lines.
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On a rare break from rehearsal, we drive down the coast to see the Indian Ocean...
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And have a lovely lunch at Costa Do Sol!
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Seafood is a specialty of Maputo (a harbor town) and Karolina gets an impressive platter of it!
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We are invited to a reception at the home of the American Ambassador, Leslie Rowe! (Ignore my name mis-spelling...) If you hadn't already guessed, the national language of Mozambique is Portuguese.
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Michael takes in the incredible views from the Ambassador's balcony.
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Karolina poses with some of our dancers: Lindo, Carlo and Arone.
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Greg gives a great speech to the Ambassador's guests explaining what a remarkable experience we've had so far.
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Kevin and I reprise our performance of "Tonight."
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with Ambassador Leslie Rowe!
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We take a trip to the Central Market, and Natalie buys some souvenirs.
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At the fish market!
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We find more souvenirs at the FEIMA craft fair, a beautiful outdoor market and park.
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Due to our rehearsal schedule, we didn't have time for a safari, so Natalie and I visit the "wildlife" at the craft fair instead!
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We stop for some "Real Mozambican Food" at a restaurant in the park.
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I had the "mboa com camarao," prawns in a green vegetable stew- delicious!
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After lunch, a painting catches Michael's eye--so he trades his sneakers for it!!
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Back at the theater, it's time for tech. I have a little fun with my shadow...
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Our band, the Western Jazz Quartet, hails from Kalamazoo, MI.
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Kevin finds a Steelers fan backstage...
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...who lives in an apartment off of the alley behind the theater.
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A view of her family from one of the dressing rooms.
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"Cool" tech seems to involve an over-active fog machine...
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During the dress rehearsal the afternoon of the show, one of the "balcony" wheels breaks through part of the stage floor. Our crew scrambles to fix the hole as rehearsal continues around it.
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A traffic cone covers up the hole as we rehearse "A Boy Like That." Greg later decides the "balconies" are unsafe and we have to change huge chunks of blocking about an hour before curtain!
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And then, it's show time! Here's the poster outside of our theater.
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And our program!
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Some of our Mozambican dancers before the show: (from left) Donia, Sharon, Rosa, Mariana, Lucilia, and Xixel
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A gorgeous couple from the Portuguese National Ballet, Filipa Castro and Carlos Pinillos, who make a cameo in our "Ballet!"
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Pre-show excitement!
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Natalie, Karolina and me with John and Bev, our incredible local set and costume designers.
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We peek out to see how full the house is about 10 minutes before curtain-- looks like a great crowd!
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And we begin! Greg re-conceived "Something's Coming" into a rousing group opening number!
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The Jets charge in "Dance At the Gym"
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The Sharks show off during "Dance At the Gym"
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Bernardo kills Riff
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Act I went brilliantly and "I Feel Pretty" begins Act II.
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The ensemble in "The Ballet."
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"Somewhere"
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At the end of "A Boy Like That," the generator powering our lights breaks down completely! I begin to sing "I Have A Love" in the dark until our dancers, crew and Greg locate flashlights and manage to light the rest of the show with them! Magical!
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Our producer Moira, John and Bev illuminating us with their flashlights!
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After our triumphant performance, our dancers can't contain their joyous energy and a spontaneous dance party ensues onstage!
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Post show with some of the festival's wonderful international musicians including one of the most famous singers in Mozambique, Mingas.
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The next day we head for home! During our 7-hour layover in Johannesburg, our producer's friend Hillary Hamburger and husband Tony have us over to their beautiful home for lunch and introduce us to their friend, Allstair Sparks, a renowned journalist.
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Back at the airport, Karolina contemplates buying a Zebra rug... (it has eyelashes and everything!)
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...and Greg gives Nelson Mandela some love...
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Many hours later, as the sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean we know that our incredible journey is coming to an end. Thank you for sharing it with me!!
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"I have been lucky to perform the role of Maria in West Side Story many, many times over the last few years in many remarkable cities and theaters," said Ewoldt. "But this one night only performance in Maputo, Mozambique was by far the most unique!"
"The passion and dedication shown by our 17 local performers (most of whom have never had the opportunity to perform in a musical before) was incredibly inspiring; their elation at our beautifully successful performance (despite some huge technical difficulties) was incredibly moving. This was an experience that I know none of us will ever forget!"
Visit www.maputomusic.com for more on the Festival.
