THE Grand Opera House took a risk in booking "the best thing since The Lion King" for a week's run, and you are heartily urged to do the same. The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, is already singing the praises of this South African song-and-dance show, sending a eulogistic letter after attending Monday's opening performance. Compliments from high indeed.

Umoja, The Spirit of Togetherness, arrives in York on its first British regional tour, after filling houses in a 14-month run in The West End and subsequently touring the world. In doing so, the show that began in South Africa in 1999 is rapidly spreading its rainbow span.

If you are looking for a way in, think of the gum-boot dancing of Black Umfolosi and the spiritual singing of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, interwoven with narration by a venerable fellow with the grey hair, sunshine shirts and grace of Nelson Mandela. (To call Hope Ndaba a Mandela tribute act would demean both Ndaba and Mandela but there is the essence of the great man about his father-figure role.)

Created by choreographer Todd Twala and costume designer Thembu Nyandeni, Umoja tells the story of the growth of South African music through spirit, culture and hardship. While the word 'apartheid' is never mentioned, Ndaba does talk of pain, of loneliness, of corruption in Johannesburg, and a young country boy is shown being picked on by the police after they demand to see his pass book. What's more, the sombre, solemn songs are all the more moving for being used only sparingly.

The musical mood is predominantly uplifting, sometimes born out of celebration, other times from defiance against oppression, and the show does exactly what it says in its subtitle: the spirit of togetherness unites the 36 performers, singers, dancers and marimba players in Ian von Memerty's cast. In fact, the Grand Opera House stage is perhaps the smallest of the tour - Bristol was three times as large - and so the performers are more together than ever: when the gum-boot dancers kick out, they are but inches from gum making contact with bum.

The gum-boot dancing is a second-half highlight, as the men with the Linford Christie athletic bodies leap in and out of dustbins. However, from the African tribal drumming to the Durban City Hall talent competitions, from the Sophiatown urban swing of the 1950s to the a cappella gospel singing and kwaito street music of today, Umoja is powerful, impassioned, moving, energetic and exhilarating. What a rainbow.

Charles Hutchinson

Updated: 14:46 Wednesday, September 03, 2003