SARO: The Musical Steps Into The Future of Nigerian Drama

The stage in Nigeria will come alive with a major cultural project tagged: Saro: The Musical.
The musical, a production of the Victoria Island, Lagos-based Terra Kulture Art Centre will then tour other parts of the world for most of next year.

Created and produced by Mrs. Bolanle Austin-Peters, who also runs Terra Kulture, she said Saro is the story of four young men, who determined to break from the yoke of frustration and lack of opportunities to explore their talents and realize their dreams,decided to embark on a journey to the land of opportunities, Lagos.

“A devastating experience lands them in the lap of destiny, success ignites them and love fuels them,” she said.

Mrs. Bolanle Austin-Peters

Austin-Peters explained that Saro: The Musical is conceived as a patriotic cultural project, designed to serve as a response to the recent trend of Nigerian corporate organisations and the affluent importing theatrical packages from abroad without giving necessary encouragement or assistance to local talents to flower.

Terra Kulture is in the forefront of the promotion of live theatre in the country and in the past six years has hosted weekly productions. Many young artistes have taken the opportunities Terra Kulture provides to explore and expose their talents and as well as honing their performance skills. “This mission is what has propelled us to embark on this major theatrical project that will serve as a platform for the promotion of our cultural heritage,” she said.

Rehearsals have since started and every other activity that will make Saro a musical to beat have been put in place. To help bring the project to life the best hands in the industry led by Makinde Adeniran as Executive Artistic Director and the Technical Director Teju Kareem of ZMirage are on board.

“We have experts from the United States and South Africa handling the lights and stage. We are also partnering with the Muson Centre where the show will be held. There is a 75-man cast composed of a 25-man orchestra and other actors. It is simply on a grand scale to rival Umoja, Sikulu and Fela! on Broadway,” the creator said.