Centrestage - Entertainment Port Elizabeth

ROCKING THROUGH THE DECADES

Centrestage's show "rocks"-read Kathryn Parkes-Dispatch review CLICK HERE NOW

A brand new music and comedy show, featuring a mad German scientist who has invented a time machine, will soon have East London audiences ‘Rocking through the Decades’ in the company of comedian Rob Van Vuuren, the Centrestage All Star Band and the new boyband Escape.

From 27 January at the Guild Theatre, Centrestage will taking a brand new journey through the musical ages as the focus moves to each of the dominant divergent musical styles which stamped their mark on the respective eras.

Durban-based ace lighting designer Mike Broderick, who has been responsible for the special lighting effects in so many past Centrestage hit shows, will also cast his magic spell over their latest production.

The crazy and multi-talented Van Vuuren, better known as Corne’s mustache wielding side-kick Twakkie from The Most Amazing Show, appears throughout the show in hilarious and irreverent audiovisual comedy segments as the opinionated, acerbic and scatterbrained inventor.

decadesVan Vuuren also came to recent prominence by winning last year’s Strictly Come Dancing show and for his role as MC on the TV show South Africa Has Talent.

The time machine kicks off in the fifties, as the new Centrestage boyband Escape fronts the popular All-Star Band as they revisit the complex Doowop harmonies which created the bed for rock n roll which was to follow.

Included in this early segment are classics such as Sh-boom, Calendar Girl, Tutti Frutti, At the Hop, The Great Pretender and Lets Have A Party, Sha Na Na’s reinvention of the fifties with Rama Lama Ding Dong, Rock n Roll is here to Stay, Yakety Yak and Good Night Sweet Heart and the Everley Brothers’s Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Suzie.

The innocence of the early sixties rock n roll is depicted as boy-band member Jace Bowren takes over on drums to allow Gino Fabbri to take a turn up front as the ultimate bachelor boy Cliff Richard, singing Summer Holiday, Lucky Lips and The Young Ones amongst other hits.

Then it is the turn of another of Escapes vocalists to show his versatilty as Arno Erasmus joins Donovan Hattingh and Mike McAuley for their rendition of the Shadows instrumentals Atlantis, FBI and Apache, complete with dance moves!

Wayne Kallis fills the sex-symbol shoes of The King of Rock n Roll as Elvis’s Comeback Special is revisited before the psychodelia of the end of the sixties is encompassed through the music of The Beatles, The Animals’s House of the Rising Sun and the Mamas and Pappas California Dreaming, on which vocalists Donna Africa and Lani Botha are also featured.

The 70’s rock sound of Boston, Journey, Toto and Led Zeppelin is also authentically recreated in the second half of the show.

A fun selection of brand new material not covered in Centrestage’s recent 80’s Glory Days show, includes the likes of Safety Dance, One Night in Bangkok, Der Kommisar and Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Escape rejoin the main band for the 90’s segment, which was characterised by the big boybands of this decade, before proceedings come full circle as the Black Eyed Peas brings things up to date.

The Centrestage All-Star Band lineup is completed by the inclusion of keyboard player Khanya Matomela – as well as the third musical member of Escape, second keyboard player Will Jenson, while the fifth member of Escape is popular vocalist Thuba Myeki.


Rocking Through the Decades is an ideal family show, as the wide range of material covered will appeal to everyone.

Tickets for the 2 week East London run can be purchased through the Guild Theatre on 043-7430704.

Rocking Through the Decades opens a 2 week run a little later in Port Elizabeth at the MMM Loubsher Auditorium, starting on 24 February.

Tickets for this later run can be purchased through Computicket.

PE FROM THE 23 FEB!!! BOOK @ COMPUTICKET