Where to catch live music and theatre in Johannesburg for the rest of April

Autumn is a very good time to go out in Johannesburg. The evenings are cooler, the leaves start dropping (helping the city itself look a little brighter after dark), and, best of all, the theatres and music venues start launching their most wonderful shows.

April still has a strong run of live entertainment left, with all sorts of family musicals, serious theatre, big-budget stage spectacles and, as Joburg does so well, a welcome lineup of excellent jazz.

Here are our picks for the rest of April you shouldn’t miss.

Shrek the Musical JR 

• Monday-Sunday, 19 April | 9 am & 11 am
• Location: The People's Theatre
• Cost: R180 via Webtickets

If you have children or are being useful to someone who does, this is the perfect outing. Shrek The Musical Jr. runs at the People’s Theatre until April 19, bringing all the familiar swamp-dwelling chaos crew with it. Expect the usual fairytale inversions, broad comedy and enough stagecraft to keep younger audiences, and even their jaded caretakers, locked in. It’s a classic People's Theatre production, so lots of fun.

Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept at The Market Theatre

• Wednesday-Sunday, 19 April 
• Location: The Market Theatre
• Cost: R110 via Webtickets

The Market Theatre has one of the month’s most acclaimed productions on its hands with Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept, running from April 9 to 19. The play draws together South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and reconciliation processes in Kosovo, but (and the reviews that you’re hearing everywhere will confirm), what’s really made people sit up is the force and finesse of the production itself. It’s serious theatre that’s gathering the sort of praise that should make you nervous to not have a ticket yet.

Sydney Mavundla at Hugh’s Jazz Club

• Thursday, 16 April | 6:30 pm
• Location: Hugh's Jazz Club
• Cost: R300 via Quicket

On April 16, Hugh’s Jazz Club hosts Sydney Mavundla. At this point, one could accuse this list of going on about Hugh’s Jazz Club, and one would be correct. But a stylish Braamfontein venue with a solid Thursday programme is exactly the sort of thing one ends up going on about. Mavundla, meanwhile, brings brass, presence and enough momentum to keep the month
moving.

Yonela Mnana at Hugh’s Jazz Club

Thursday, 23 April | 6:30 pm
Location: Hugh's Jazz Club
Cost: R300 via Quicket

Then, because apparently Hugh refuses to leave April alone, Yonela Mnana arrives on April 23. Mnana’s piano-led set promises a different mood altogether: subtler, more inward, a little more late-autumn in tone. Also, let’s be honest, once you’ve started spending Thursdays at Hugh’s, it would be rude not to continue.

Pretty Woman: The Musical at Montecasino

Friday 24 April - Sunday 31 May 
Location: The Teatro at Montecasino
Cost: R380 via Ticketmaster

At the glossy end of the month, Pretty Woman: The Musical opens at the Teatro at Montecasino on April 24. This is the full-scale, dressed-up, make-a-night-of-it booking: romance, glamour, big-stage energy, and a title almost everyone already knows. There is absolutely room in one city for intimate jazz in Braamfontein and a fabulous musical at Montecasino. In fact, we’re living for it.

The 12/12 Festival at Joburg Theatre

Thursday 23 April - Saturday 25 April 
Location: Joburg Theatre
Cost: R120 via Webtickets

Running from April 23 to 25, Joburg Theatre’s 12/12 Festival brings short-form live performance into the mix. That means a faster pace, a range of voices and the kind of evening where one piece can be funny, the next unnerving, and the next unexpectedly moving. It is a good reminder that theatre does not always need to arrive in one grand sweep. Sometimes the best part of seeing something live is not knowing what to expect, and leaving better for it.

The smaller jazz circuit: Braamfontein, Melville, Newtown

Then there is the rest of the month’s jazz, scattered across the city in a way that feels very Joburg. Thabone plays Niki’s Oasis Jazz Restaurant in Newtown on April 19. Rashid Lanie’s Jazz Matinee lands in Melville at Six on April 25, and Safe Energy plays Chiesa Di Pazzo Lupi, also in Melville, on April 30. Add the Lab of Learning Jam Sessions at the Wits Theatre Foyer on Tuesdays, curated by Carlo Mombelli, and April starts looking very good indeed.