The cast and
crew of Wakaa! The Musical engaged
officials of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week in a historic and
symbolic visit designed to endear the arts and culture community to Nigeria’s
business world. ANOTE AJELUOROU, who was there, reports
It was a
historic moment last week Thursday when some of the cast and crew members of
the new Broadway-style musical theatre production on the Nigerian scene, Wakaa! The Musical, visited the eighth,
trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Custom Street, Marina,
Lagos. It was not just a courtesy visit, as the Executive Producer and Director
of the musical showpiece and boss of Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos,
Mrs. Bolanle Austin-Peters, had the singular honour of sounding the closing
gong for the close of the market at exactly 2.30pm for a market that opened
9.30am.
It was
a major first for the arts and culture sector, as only the Director-General,
Mr. Oscar Onyema, had the honour of performing that task or assigned the same
role to a highflying business personality. But Austin-Peters is no ordinary
woman or newcomer in the arts and culture sector of the economy that is usually
neglected or deemed unserious. Her upscale culture centre, Terra Kulture, has
made a business name for itself with its five star restaurant and bar lounge,
art gallery, bookshop and reading room, Nigerian languages’ teaching centre and
theatre@terra segment.
In the
past two years, Austin-Peters has made a major leap forward in theatre
production when she took up the challenge of making Broadway-style musical
theatres. Her inspiration came from Fela! On Broadway, based on the late Afrobeat maverick, Fela Anikulapo, an
essential Nigerian story that was imported from the United States and sold to
Nigerians for a princely sum. It was symptomatic of most things Nigerian which
do not have value until they are first taken outside the country, repackaged
and imported back and sold to Nigerians at a premium.
Austin-Peters
felt challenged, as indeed all local producers should, and decided to change
the narrative. And thus Saro the Musical
was borne as her resounding response. It paid off handsomely going by the huge
audiences that trooped, first to Oriental Hotel, and later, to MUSON Centre, to
enjoy the sheer spectacle of a great cultural extravaganza it offered. It also
caught the attention of international media which feasted on it to show what
Nigeria is capable of doing. Even austere President Muhammadu Buhari could not
resist the magic Saro the Musical
promised, as he took off time during his election campaigns to see the theatre
showpiece last April.
It had
not happened like that in a long while since Festival of African Arts and
Culture (FESTAC 77) when the entire black race converged on Lagos in 1977 in a
cultural showpiece. In just two hours Saro
the Musical packed so much punch and power that those who had seen it kept
coming back to experience anew the beauty of art at its peak. Not even Fela! On
Broadway came close to rivaling the grandeur of Saro the Musical. Now, Austin-Peters has promised even bigger
spectacle with Wakaa! The Musical, as
it broadens its thematic scope to also engage political issues in an
irresistible dramatic form. Already, rehearsals are at advanced stage
preparatory to staging the musical theatre this Christmas holidays – December 30
through January 3. Last week, Austin-Peters’ directorial ability was put to the
analytical gaze when theatre professor from University of Illinois,
Carbon-Dale, U.S., Segun Ojewuyi and other renowned theatre experts like Mr.
Jahman Anikulapo, Mr. Teju Kareem, Mr. Ade Martins, Mr. Tunde Babalola, Mrs.
Aduke Gomez, Mrs. Alexandra Lustrati and Amritt Flora, previewed Wakaa The Musical just to ensure a tight
production worth the audience’s time money value was being made. She passed the
litmus test, as it were.
IN
a rare, candid turn of financial accounting and market projection for her new
theatre project, Wakaa! The Musical, Mrs.
Austin-Peters gave a breakdown of the cost implication and return-on-investment
for performing Saro the Musical which
started showing in 2013 through 2015. According to her, “The Lion King musical has grossed over $6.2 billion since inception
in 1994, making it the most successful box office total of any work in any
media in entertainment history. It is followed by $6 billion-earning The Phantom of the Opera.
“Saro the Musical at its premiere in 2013 had over 7,000
people in attend at its nine shows in three days.
35% of the cost of production was realised for ticket sales. In December
2014, another 8,000 people attended the 11 shows of Saro the Musical over six days. 50% of
the cost of production was realised from ticket sales. In April 2015,
over 9,000 people saw the 13 shows in six days. 55%
of the cost of production was realised from ticket sales.
“The cost for staging each of the three
productions above is between N70 and 80 million (cost both in kind and cash). The
majority of the cost goes into venue rental and technical cost since the venues
are not equipped for Broadway-style musical theatre productions like Saro the Musical and Wakaa! The Musical”.
Then she submits futuristically, “From the
above, you can imagine how much the production will turn over if it were to run
at its own venue for six months,” as all musicals are wont to do.
AND so, on
the eighth floor when trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was coming to a
close, Austin-Peters had the symbolic honour of sounding the gong to bring
activities in the market to a close. Even the hardnosed traders who were
hunched over their computers poring over figures, monitoring the movement of
shares, advising customers to mop up shares with potentials to rise or dump
toxic ones sliding badly, Austin-Peters, in the company of Executive Director,
Market Operations and Technology, Mr. Ade Bajomo, sounded the gong after
addresses to the traders on the need for the visit from the arts and culture
community to the stock market and its potentials for Nigeria’s big businesses.
Bajomo
commended the Executive Producer and Director of Wakaa! The Musical, Austin-Peters, for her astute business
initiative in not only seeing the business potentials in the arts, but making
the most of it by investing in it, with identifiable outcomes to show for it.
He further praised her for bringing attention of the business community to the
arts as never before thus generating awareness about the arts among business
leaders. According to him, it was Austin-Peters’ bold efforts in bringing out
the business in the arts that endeared her to his organisation, a foremost one in
Nigeria’s business world. It was Bajomo’s hope that now, more than ever, the
country’s business leaders would begin to see the business in the arts and
entertainment thereby look at ways of investing in that sector that is often
neglected largely because of lack of information backed by data, as to the
possible bottom line therein worth the investor’s time and money.
However, with Wakaa! The Musical that
is following on the heels of Saro the
Musical, Bajomo hoped that business leaders would be better enlightened on
business opportunities in the arts and culture sector. He also enjoined those
in the arts and entertainment sector to look to also investing in stocks, as it
was a viable way of making money to further invest in their artistic endeavours
to further raise the stakes. By so doing, he posited that business leaders
would then begin to see the business potentials in the sector and gradually
make inroads into it. He said it had become necessary as a way of diversifying
the economy from its mono-product economy currently in recession.
On her
part, Mrs. Austin-Peters educated Nigeria Stock Exchange officials on how much
progress the arts and culture sector has made over the years. A trained lawyer
and economists, Austin-Peters stated that until now those in the arts and
theatre business had been perceived as illiterate and unserious people. She
noted that such perception was borne out of ignorance and unwillingness to
understand the sector, as most of those who performed in Saro the Musical and now in Wakaa!
The Musical are trained lawyers, engineers and other professionals who had
turned away from those professions to their true passion in the arts and
theatre and were ready to make good as they would have done in the professions
they studied given the opportunity Wakaa!
The Musical has to offer.
Austin-Peters also harped on the job-creation potentials of the arts and
culture sector. Saro the Musical
alone had about 60 cast and crew youth members. Imagine having five such
musicals in a year in the country employing about the same number of young
people, the effect, she said would be huge as it would help mop up most of the
unemployed youth roaming the streets and being tempted into anti-social
behaviours like crime, insurgency or militancy. It was clear from her
submission that the arts has a model worth considering for many reasons that
are beneficial to the economy, as she canvased a robust engagement with the
country’s arts and culture sector as a viable that could help solve the myriads
of problems plaguing Nigeria.
According to Austin-Peters, “What is significant with our visit and my sounding
the gong to close the market today is that in Nigeria, the arts are relegated
to the background. The business world needs to realise that there is power in the
arts to impact society. The world is taking note of the arts and also that the
stock exchange is also recognising the power that the arts wield in shaping
society”.
For
the General Manager of Terra Kulture, Mr. Joseph Omoibom, “Theatre will be a
multi-million naira business soon enough. Coming to the stock market is to make
business people see the future in the theatre and for them to invest in it”.
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