Marie and Rosetta

Soul queen Beverley Knight has become a West End regular with her musical theatre roles but Marie and Rosetta is her first ever straight up play. She stars as godmother of rock’n’roll Sister Rosetta Tharpe. It’s Alabama, 1946 and Tharpe’s noisy ways have aroused considerable controversy in the segregated South. She’s just recruited saintly young Marie Knight as her singing partner. But as they gear up to tour, Rosetta is determined to lead the younger woman astray somewhat. Ntombizodwa Ndlovu plays Marie in George Brant’s play with songs, which is directed by Monique Touko (despite the brouhaha over it being her straight play debut, Knight has long established herself as a perfectly decent actor, plus the debate over the different between a musical and a play with songs is a one way trip to semantic madness).