Abstract

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Revisiting Timbuktu!: Geoffrey Holder’s Wedding of Costumes, Choreography, and Black Regality on Broadway

– Lisa Sagallo

With its splendiferous costumes, entrancing choreography, and dazzling direction by Geoffrey Holder, the 1978 Broadway musical Timbuktu! (an “all-black” version of the 1953 musical Kismet) was, by everyone’s definition, visually extravagant.  Yet the production received largely negative reviews and closed after 221 performances.  Situating the show in the context of other all-Black musicals of the era, this critical essay re-investigates Holder’s work on Timbuktu!, focusing on his mission to present images of Black regality on Broadway, and on his imaginative melding of costume design and choreography.  The essay provides detailed descriptions of the staging of star Eartha Kitt’s memorable entrance and the notable “Birds in Paradise Garden” ballet, which, it is argued, holds two-fold significance as a work of musical-theatre choreography.  A romantic duet, performed by two dancers costumed as birds, the ballet exemplifies Holder’s unique approach to the making of theatrical choreography: tightly integrating the movements of fabrics with the motions of human bodies.  The ballet also constitutes an inventive dramaturgical use of dance in terms of where Holder placed it within the overall action of the musical’s plotline.  Additionally, comments from dancers who appeared in the show’s Broadway and touring productions reveal how Holder’s costumes functioned to support dramatic elements of their performances.  The essay is based on original research drawn from archival materials (costume renderings, photographs, scripts, production notes, and audio-recordings), boot-leg video footage, programs, reviews, contemporary newspaper and magazine articles, and personal interviews with cast and production team members, as well as with Holder’s son, Léo.