MAY-JUNE Roll on theatre in 2019
It’s been a busy 2018 theatre season and 2019 is shaping up to be another good one. Carly Thomas looks forward to what the new year brings. JANUARY-FEBRUARY MARCH-APRIL JULY-AUGUST NOVEMBER-DECEMBER
Looking at our regional theatre awards nominations is a good way to get a grasp of just how stage-curtain sweeping our theatre community is.
The list is epic, with a huge range of shows, actors and technicians.
The list also makes it clear that you have to be pretty organised to make sure you get to see the ones you deem unmissable.
So, here’s a look into the future, a glimpse of what’s coming up in Manawatu¯ theatre in 2019, giving you a chance to circle the ones that catch your eye.
The Globe Theatre is chocka with music events throughout January, with its first Summer Sounds series, but it has managed to squeeze some theatre in there too.
There’s magic from Logan Kitney, comedy from our Comedy Hub, clowning from Fraser Hooper and the highlight, says manager Denise Servante, comes from Wanderlust Opera.
‘‘They did the Marriage of Figaro and this time they are doing Don Pasquale. They are so, so brilliant.’’
Don Pasquale is a comic opera, so ‘‘absolutely not your usual’’, says Servante.
February is the time to get out the picnic blanket and head to the Esplanade for Summer Shakespeare. This time around it is Antony and Cleopatra, with Ralph Johnson directing a local cast. Johnson’s pared-down version is set in Egypt and he says it is essentially a love story.
‘‘They betray each other, but in the end their obsession with each other dominates.’’
The Manawatu¯ Theatre Society makes its first appearance of the year, with The Wedding Singer. The exciting thing about this one, says Jude Weavers, is it is being directed by up-and-coming new, young directors, with mentors.
Abbey Musical Theatre is well loved in its own right in its home town of Palmerston North.
Its first show for the year, after its magical finale of Mary Poppins in 2018, will be something totally different. Avenue Q is described as ‘‘part flesh, part felt and packed with heart’’. A musical with puppets and real-life actors and a huge dose of uniqueness, it’s a hard one to classify. Production manager Jane Watson says it’s ‘‘hilariously funny’’.
‘‘They talk about all sorts of ridiculous things and we cannot wait to get this one up and running.’’
And then to our region’s only professional theatre, Centrepoint. The lights seldom get switched off here and while Hudson and Halls has just come to a pot-clattering end, new shows are waiting in the wings.
Middle Age Spread is first up in March, Roger Hall’s most prolific comedy set in the late 70s around a tension-and booze-filled dinner party. Artistic director Dan Pengelly says he asked people what they wanted on their stage and the fingers pointed at this one.
‘‘We were told that people love Kiwi stories, they love comedy and they love feeling like it is us or someone we know on stage, and so many people said they love Roger Hall.’’
The Globe brings a heap more comedy during these months, with plenty from the Comedy Hub and Raw Comedy Quest seeking out new talent.
From Middle Age Spread to the middle of the year – in June the Centrepoint Theatre billing is a surprise birthday musical that is exactly that, a surprise. It will be another community production and while Pengelly says a musical wasn’t planned, after the success of That Bloody Woman, "the desire for another musical was there’’.
‘‘So I found another musical, but there are certain restrictions around it, which means we can’t announce it till April. It makes it a bit exciting and I can say that it will be a bloody good night out.’’
Cats will be prowling into The Regent on Broadway for one night only. The professional production is touring New Zealand, with a 16-city schedule. It is one of the world’s best-loved musicals and a highlight for the Regent in 2019.
Niu Sila is Centrepoint Theatre’s two-hander comedy about a friendship that spans 40 years, two cultures and one street. Pengelly says the story follows the two characters, one Samoan, one Kiwi-european from the age of 5 through to when they are 45.
‘‘It’s very Kiwi and it’s hilarious and heartwarming and beautiful.’’
Abbey Musical Theatre will move into the full-on part of its 2019. It keeps raising the bar with the quality of its shows and with a raft of nominations in the regional theatre awards, the expectations are high.
Les Miserables is the biggie in August. Nothing seems too big for this polished amateur theatre company, so why not go for one of the hugest, most iconic musicals of them all? Watson says it has been some time since Les Mis was on stage in Palmerston North, so ‘‘we are all looking forward to that’’.
‘‘Barry [Jones] and Andrea [Maxwell] will be combining directing and Sam Peters will be stepping out for the first time as production manager.’’
The Manawatu¯ Theatre Society will present Honky, by Greg Kalleres, in July.
The society started to become known for pursuing at least one piece of theatre a year that pushes against boundaries and Honky is it. It’s a satirical look at the symbiotic relationship between racism and commercialism, while at the same time asking the question, is white guilt only for white people?
The Manawatu¯ Gang Show presents Showtime! at the Regent on Broadway. It rolls around every two years, with the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides of Manawatu¯ taking to the big stage for a revue that director Carol Kelly says is always hilarious.
‘‘[It’s] full of laughter, pyrotechnics, flying children and a great night out for all ages.’’
Club Cabaret Part Deux brings a different kind of beautiful in September, returning after 2018 with a mixed bag of the strange and stunning.
‘‘Young people fizzed out over it and then I had middle-aged people who said they hadn’t been to the theatre before but they did for cabaret and then I had 80-year-olds grabbing my hand and whispering in my ear that they loved it,’’ Pengelly says.
Following its 2018 sellout production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, director Nathan Mudge and Centrepoint Theatre’s Basement Company breathes fresh life into another modern classic, Spring Awakening. To be performed at The Dark Room, Mudge says the play is bitingly funny, yet heartbreakingly tragic.
‘‘Wedekind’s seminal play about youth caused riots when it exploded on to the stage over a century ago and has lost none of its provocative power. Chronicling a group of school students and their troubled journey from adolescence to adulthood, Spring Awakening asks urgent questions about how young people are shaped for their future by a generation raised in the past.’’
The Manawatu¯ Theatre Society makes another appearance with Swingers, a comedy by April Phillips. It’s about golf and sex and ageing and it’s a hoot.
Mark Hadlow in MAMIL: Middle Aged Men in Lycra will round out the year with a comedy that will see the popular Kiwi actor on stage with his bike.
‘‘My favourite bit about this one,’’ says Pengelly, ‘‘is that he talks to the audience. One night an audience member responded to something that Mark had said and Mark just kept the conversation going. It was so marvellous. Another night there was an emotional part and someone in the front row farted and then the next four minutes of the show became all about that.’’
Chuck in the National Theatresports Champs, a splattering of kids shows and a cool-sounding concept show by the Basement Company, made by teenagers, for teenagers, with no adults allowed. It’s a busy one for Centrepoint Theatre.
Abbey Musical Theatre will round out the year with another favourite. Mamma Mia! will bring the summer feels to the stage neighbouring the lagoon, with Steve Sayer returning to direct.
‘‘That one will be really good fun,’’ says Watson. ‘‘It is such a favourite for so many people and it finishes up a great lineup of shows that just about covers everything.’’
Most definitely not the definitive list, but a taster for many shows that will grace our stages in 2019. Massey University will have shows in the mix as well, The Dark Room’s door will be opened, Ian Harman will no doubt be stepping out as Mr Lola Illusion with his Boom Boom Room troupe and Skin Theatre and Te
Pu¯ anga Whakaari Theatre will be ones to keep an eye on.
But that’s enough to be getting on with for now. Let the shows begin.