The Zulu and the Zayda

The Zulu and the Zayda.

The Zulu and the Zayda is a musical play.

Cast

• Ossie Davis - Johannes
• Menasha Skulnik - Zayda
• Louis Gossett - Paulus
• Peter DeAnda - Peter
• Christine Spencer - Joan

Plot

The play is about two remarkably undiscouraged people living under very discouraging circumstances. The Zulu's circumstances are, as most of us know and feel, that he lives in a homeland taken over by white proprietors in which he must watch every step and every breath just to keep what little freedom he has left to him....A zayda, as we learn, is a Jewish grandfather. This particular zayda is 79 years old and has been twice uprooted in his life, first from Slutsk, his native village in Czarist Russia, and more recently from London, where for many years he was happily selling wares from a pushcart. Now he finds himself in Johannesburg, where his devoted son, who runs a prosperous hardware store and nervously tries to avoid trouble while raising a family, has brought him to live out the rest of his years.

Musical numbers

Act I

• "Tkambuza" – Johannes
• "It’s Good to Be Alive" – Zayda and Paulus
• "Crocodile Wife" – Johannes
• "Rivers of Tears" – Zayda
• "The Water Wears Down the Stone" – Johannes
• "Like the Breeze Blows" – Peter, Joan and Ensemble
• "Oisgetzaychent" (Out of This World) – Zayda and Ensemble

Act II

• "Some Things" – Ensemble
• "Zulu Love Song" – Paulus
• "May Your Heart Stay Young" – Zayda and Ensemble
• "How Cold, Cold, Cold" – Johannes
• "Eagle Soliloquy" – Paulus
• "Finale" — Zayda and Company