New Zealand’s Theatre Comeback
Musical Theatre companies in New Zealand are slowly returning to their pre-Covid level of production, although some are still wounded following cancellations. David Spicer reports from Blenheim – in the north of the south island - which hosted Musical Theatre New Zealand’s annual conference in March.
For the first time in three years, I had the excitement of flying to New Zealand to attend my 21st MTNZ conference, which is a mixture of the business of selling musicals and plays to community theatre companies, and the ‘pleasure’ of costume parties.
Blenheim is a small country town of just 28,000, in the wine country of Marlborough. Its biggest attraction is an extraordinary museum collection of World War I planes and replicas, restored by director Peter Jackson.
The local company - Blenheim Musical Theatre - founded in 1918, is typical of community theatres across the country that punch so far above their weight. Every year it stages a musical which sells up to 6000 tickets – equivalent to one sixth of the population.
The secretary of BMT, Peter Meikle, told me that the town has hidden talent.
“The wineries bring a lot of internationally oriented people. When we did The Phantom of the Opera, we had a woman in the cast who was a fully trained coloratura opera singer. You would be hard pressed to hear someone like that in London,” he told me.
Their next big production is Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical. Whilst they have hired a bus, the company is making many of their costumes.
“We have 105 years of wardrobe stashed away in our club building and various containers. I found this extraordinary collection of wonderful period costumes.
“Fifteen of the Gumby costumes (flamboyant drag with large head pieces) are being made from scratch.”
Meikle says the dancing is put together by an “international choreographer” who leads an “extraordinary” dance troupe including a star male dancer who has deferred his study at a ballet school to take part.
Blenheim Musical Theatre almost miraculously escaped having to cancel a production during Covid, even though up to 47 members of the company were on leave.
“We were right in the middle of Les Mis and watched our sister societies having to cancel their shows. We somehow fell between cracks of major outbreaks.”
One of those companies which was taken to the brink by Covid was Act Three Productions in the town of Palmerston North. It has had to call off a season of We Will Rock You three times.
The President Allan Nagy said he had never seen so many tears as when he told cast and crew in January 2022 that the show, again, wouldn’t be going ahead. Their response was to perform it anyway, for each other, in place of that day’s rehearsal.
“We actually put on the show, without any set or costumes, sung through and acted through the show, and once again it all ended in tears,” he told the NZ website Stuff.
The company's production will finally get to the stage for a complete season in August.
Musical Theatre New Zealand conferences over the years, compare David Spicer's costumes over the years.
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