Months after its successful run last December, Moremi the Musical ups the ante in a spectacular return to the Terra Kulture Arena stage, Okechukwu Uwaezuoke reports
Like most legends, this awe-inspiring tale of womanly dignity and courage is replete with its own fair share of heart-breaks. No doubt, the memories of its successful last December outing at this Victoria Island, Lagos-based 400-seater performance space remains fresh in many aficionados’ memories. Indeed, as the latest production of the Bolanle Austen-Peters Production , Moremi the Musical is a stunner just like the legendary figure on which it is based is believed to be.
A male voice over wrenches the audience back to the present. This is after a lengthy instrumental musical prelude. Then, a solo female crooner dramatically introduces Moremi . Now, the show has begun… It is obvious that the monarch has run out of ideas. For the hunters, sent into the forest at the behest of the Ifa oracle on a mission to capture a live elephant, a live tiger and a live leopard, have returned empty-handed to the consternation of the people.
One thing leads to another and she eventually ends up becoming the consort of the king of the Igbo, Olu-Igbo , a position that stands her in good stead to discover the secrets of the invading warriors. Even so, Moremi’s sudden self-possessed acceptance of her fate so soon after her pathos-inducing wails is confounding. Seamlessly stepping into her new supra-human status seems rather hyperbolised.