Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - April 15, 2007
Christina Kennedy

Top musical director Bryan Schimmel decided to let Joburg know his HIV status to show that living with the virus need not prevent anybody from leading a healthy and productive life.

Schimmel joins a handful of other prominent South Africans - including Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Edwin Cameron and author Adam Levin - who have disclosed that they are HIV-positive.

"I've been HIV-positive for 10 years, and I feel I am the picture of health, energy and strength - in total defiance of the image people are constantly given of how someone with HIV looks," he says.

"I've never seen it as something to be afraid of, and am working with it. I'm very positive about being positive."

Schimmel, who has been taking antiretroviral drugs for two and a half years, works out at the gym and takes vitamins and mineral supplements daily under the guidance of his personal trainer, Clint Walters - the former Gladiator star " Blade".

Schimmel, 42, has won accolades for top shows like Chicago, We Will Rock You (with which he's touring Asia and New Zealand later this year) and A Handful of Keys.

In July, he'll be working on the show that means most to him - Rent - at the newly refurbished Alexander Theatre in Braamfontein.

The rock musical is about a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive in New York in the '90s, under the shadow of HIV/Aids.

It was while living in New York in 1997 that Schimmel went for his routine six-monthly HIV test and found out he was positive. He went straight from the doctor's rooms and bought a ticket to see Rent that night.

"I sobbed for two and a half hours solid, from start to finish," he says. "All of a sudden, it resonated on a level it never had before."

It was the best therapy he could have asked for. "Once I got past the initial shock ... I thought: 'Okay, what do I do now? How do I work with this? I'm stuck with it. Do I let it rule me and have power over me, or do I deal with it?"

After extensive research into HIV and Aids, Schimmel decided not to treat his virus as an alien invader.

"The fact that I can do Rent 10 years later is an incredible celebration for me. But Rent shouldn't just be labelled an Aids musical - it's also about strength, courage, tolerance, and acceptance," he said.

"It's incredibly relevant to the country right now - it demands the audience look past their judgments of people and see their heart, humanity and dignity."

The musical is so relevant to Schimmel that he has had lyrics from it - "No day but today" - tattooed on his left shoulder. "It's an affirmation that the only time worth living for is now."

Schimmel can be seen working his musical magic on stage at the Liberty Theatre on the Square, performing in The Last Five Years.

He wants to be an inspiration to others living with HIV and encourages other well-known South Africans to disclose their status.

"The more people are open about it, the more it will be destigmatised," he says, and people should be encouraged to be tested because knowing their status will enable them to "take action".

"The bottom line is in attitude: you can be a victim, or you can take responsibility for it. As for me, I'm looking fit and feeling fabulous!"

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