It's a little surprising to see companies on the level of New York Theatre Workshop and National Black Theatre expending money and energy on a wobbly entry in the Dead Celebrity Playhouse genre. (The recent Little Girl Blue, in which Makeba's sometime colleague Nina Simone unravels onstage, is another example, but you can probably come up with a dozen more, going all the way back to Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill.) Dreaming Zenzile has all the hallmarks: A cursory narrative, a lack of dramatic action, and an awkward framing device.
Read more

Lacking the style and thematic force that defines Blain-Cruz’s best work, the show feels less like a narrative than a tone poem, which can make time hang heavy in the first half; it takes an hour just to bring young Miriam to her professional debut. ... At its best, 'Dreaming Zenzile' is a thank-you note, written with deep and abiding gratitude."
Read more

"Overall, though, this bio-musical is an excellent one that feels fresh amid the many others on Broadway and beyond right now. It respectfully and deeply honors its subject matter without lots of spectacle, allowing room for Makeba's spirit and calls to action to shine through."
Read more

"Seems unfinished despite evident musical virtuosity, a long development, and an encyclopedic list of producing partners. These include NYTW, Octopus Theatricals, National Black Theatre, Arts Emerson, the McCarter Theater Center, the Apollo Theater, and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. That’s a lot of co-production. Yet somewhere in all that collaboration, Somi Kakoma’s bio-musical about the great South African singer Zenzile Miriam Makeba has slipped halfway through the cracks."
Read more

"['Dreaming Zenzile'] will be particularly cherished by those knowledgeable about Makeba, her music and her fierce anti-apartheid advocacy, but it is so deftly written, and performed with such luminous grace, that it’s hard to imagine anyone coming away less than transfixed—both by Makeba’s music and Ms. Kakoma’s shining talents."
Read more

"As far as jukebox musicals go, 'Dreaming Zenzile' earns a B-: plenty of musical gems decorating a rough book. One suspects that Makeba — a stateless person who smashed through borders with her music — has a story that can do much more."
Read more

"'Dreaming Zenzile,' while assuredly Kakoma’s homage, is also an opportunity to show off her magnificent voice. She’s able to produce some of Makeba’s tone, and often, marvelously, there are even Sarah Vaughan echoes. The joy of African songs written by Makeba — a prime inclusion is Nongqongqo — and others is replicated by the several Kakoma has put together."
Read more