Le monde des musicals

An elderly shoeshine boy, Kat Diamond, looks back on his life. In flashback, we learn that in 1957 he and his boisterous mates spend their time hanging out, harmonising and fantasising about girls until Lucy, the musically minded sister of the boyish Magoo shapes them into a well-dressed, well-pitched group. They become the Cavalla Kings, an amazing close-harmony doo-wop group which achieved fame on South African radio in the late 50s before anyone discovered that - shock horror - they were not white. Their showbiz story of how they were introduced by a white manager with the words “If they weren’t onstage they’d be outside breaking into your cars” and of how they were allowed to sing in hotel cabaret by night only if they carried guests’ baggage by day was terrifyingly true. However, the group eventually broke up, and Kat himself becomes an elderly shoeshine boy.