THE STORY: Richard Watts, Jr. writes: “The scene is one of the new African nations which is in the revolutionary process of overthrowing its once revered dictator. And there in the middle of the tumult are a black girl singer from America and her manager and more or less husband, who fancies himself as a stand-up comic. The girl has just made a big hit singing 'Love for Sale’ to the pygmies; and she is much desired by the fleeing dictator, who watched her with admiration when he saw her in a New York club. The fugitive tyrant, whose name, by the way, is Kgaravu, hasn’t given up hope of being restored to power and, since he is a virile and handsome young fellow, he sees no reason why he can’t keep the beautiful girl with him. He feels he hasn’t much of a rival in the manager, who keeps fighting with his singer and certainly isn’t exactly of heroic stature. But he reckons without the guile and resourcefulness of a New York stand-up comic. The republic in which this triangular love story takes place is called Chaka, and it is, of course, imaginary…But the author has told his slender love story with humor and charm, and there is something dramatically striking in the basic situation of two black Americans set down in the land from where their ancestors came and finding it bringing out their native American feelings."
This fast-moving and brightly topical comedy deals with a Harlem show-business couple caught unexpectedly amidst the political upheaval of an emerging African nation.
“…a warm-hearted and immensely likable evening of unpretentious entertainment.” —New York Post.
