20 Mar 2009 The Mother City will be treated to a taste of Broadway pizzazz in March, when Christine Pedi, one of New York’s most beloved musical theatre stars, performs at Cape Town’s celebrated NewSpace Theatre on 44 Long Street.

One of New York’s most celebrated Musical Theatre Stars- Christine Pedi – brings her hilarious one woman musical comedy show Great Dames to the NewSpace 1 Theatre, 44 Long Street, Cape Town, for three weeks only from Tuesday 24th March to Sunday 12th April 2009.

Pedi, a brilliant impressionist named as one of Show Business Weekly’s “Best Female Cabaret Performers,” will be appearing in Cape Town for the first time along with her accompanist, Matthew Ward on the piano. This award-winning performer conjures up the dolls, divas, broads, babes and bombshells of stage and screen with the songs they made famous. Stage divas, Liza Minnelli, Julie Andrews, Sarah Brightman  Ethel Merman and Carol Channing will all be channeled during this musical comedy extravaganza and lovingly brought to us by Christine’s amazing voice, talent for impersonation and comic flair.  She will be appearing in Cape Town for the first time, after successful seasons in Johannesburg and Durban earlier this year. She will be joined by her accompanist, Matthew Ward on piano. Great Dames is produced in South Africa, Singapore , Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur  by Colin Law for Afro Asia Events, with lighting by Jane Gosnell.

Named by Show Business Weekly as one of its top female cabaret performers and the winner of the 2007 New York  Critics Choice Musical Comedy Award for Great Dames, Pedi has garnered a string of prestigious awards over the years. In January this year, she walked off with a 2008 Nightlife Award in the category ‘Outstanding Cabaret Comedy or Characterisation’. The annual Nightlife Awards celebrate the best in New York cabaret, comedy and jazz. In April Pedi received a Back Stage Bistro Award for best musical comedy performer, following her recent sensational performances at the Metropolitan Room in Manhatten. Pedi’s work in cabaret has additionally earned her an MAC award for her turn as Liza Minnelli in Judy & Liza Live, as well as several nominations for her one-woman shows Wonderful Songs – An Evening Of Comden & Green and Forbidden Divas. She also had a guest spot on John McD’s Cabaret Corner on The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Well known in New York for her long association with the show Forbidden Broadway, she has earned a Drama Desk nomination and an LA Ovation award and has appeared in companies all over the world, including Los Angeles, Tokyo, Singapore, Australia and London’s West End. In April she produced her first studio album,Good to Mama, in association with Afro Asia Events, that features top South African musicians. Good to Mama will be launched in Cape Town at the Green Dolphin during Pedi's season in the Mother City and it was be released in New York City in February 2009.


Pedi is not only accomplished in musical theatre, but is also an actress and radio show host. She is a presenter on Sirius Satellite Radio and was most recently seen on Broadway in Talk Radio, opposite Liev Schrieber. She has also appeared in productions such as The Vagina Monologues. Fans of the hit television gangster series The Sopranos may recognise Pedi as the dearly departed Karen Baccala, a brief but pivotal role.

Great Dames musical director Matthew Ward has a string of Broadway credits to his name, including, Avenue Q, La Cage Aux Folles and Blood Brothers amongst others. Ward is the composer of After the Fair, with music and lyrics by Stephen Cole, which premiered at the Dallas Lyric Stage, garnering Leon Rabin awards for Best New Musical and Best Musical Director (Ward).

Cabaret Scene describes Pedi thus: “Christine Pedi is a musical theatre lead with the heart and soul of a comedienne, and the combination creates more effervescence than a glass of good champagne.”

See this classy, sassy and extraordinarily talented Broadway star in action from Tuesday, 24th March  2009 and run nightly at 8:15pm.

Saturday shows are at 5:30pm and 8:30pm, and Sundays at 4pm. Tickets are priced from R145 with special discounts offered for groups of 10 or more, students and Senior Citizens and on Tuesdays patrons can purchase two tickets for the price of one. Booking is now open via Computicket.com or 083 915 8000.