Sarafina!
She was their teacher. They were her hope.
The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The stage version presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the school girl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when a policeman shoots several pupils in a classroom. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of act two. In the movie version Sarafina feels shame at her mother's (played by Miriam Makeba in the film) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version) is imprisoned.
Top Cast

Leleti Khumalo
as Sarafina
Sarafina

Whoopi Goldberg
as Mary Masembuko
Mary Masembuko

John Kani
as School Principal
School Principal
More Like This

Reigen
1973 • Movie

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
1971 • Movie

The Little Mermaid Live!
2019 • Movie

Dancer in the Dark
2000 • Movie

Swing!
1938 • Movie

Inu-Oh
2022 • Movie

A Private Engagement
1930 • Movie

Sarong Girl
1943 • Movie

A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
2025 • Movie

Dig!
2004 • Movie

Goodbye Bafana
2007 • Movie

Porgy and Bess
1959 • Movie

Catch a Fire
2006 • Movie

Dreamgirls
2006 • Movie

Blood Diamond
2006 • Movie







