Floods and lockdowns rain on NMT’s parade
Nelson Musical Theatre will finally have its moment in the sun, after extreme weather and pandemic problems disrupted opening nights for two years in a row.
On Monday, Nelson Musical Theatre (NMT) will launch a musical medley show, A Night on Broadway, at the Red Door Theatre for a four-night season.
Initially planned for August 17, the extreme weather the region experienced pushed back opening night to September, after the production had already lost cast members to Covid-19 earlier in the year.
It was the second occasion a performance planned for a mid-August opening had been disrupted, NMT president Robbie Burns said.
Last year’s production of Mary Poppins, also planned for August 17, was cancelled a few days before opening night, after the Government announced that the country was going into level 4 lockdown.
The morning of August 17 this year, the cast and crew had been ‘‘eager and excited’’ to perform, Burns said. However, the extreme rain put a dampener on things.
It quickly became apparent that the performance would have to be cancelled, due to the theatre’s location on Atawhai Drive next to Founders Heritage Park. ‘‘Once the road and park were closed, we knew it wasn’t safe to go ahead that night.’’
The show had to be cancelled, as it couldn’t be performed during a state of emergency.
‘‘The slips across the road from us were enormous. We had knee-deep mud reaching right up to our building.
‘‘It wouldn’t have been safe or sensible, so we had no choice but to cancel the run.’’
After being postponed for a year due to the pandemic, the cancellation of last year’s production of Mary Poppins had left NMT $40,000 in the red, Burns said.
However, despite ‘‘quite a bit of calendar juggling’’ to find suitable dates that worked for the cast, band, crew and theatre, NMT was able to find new September dates for this year’s show.
A Night on Broadway will cover 50 different songs from Broadway’s biggest musicals.
As for August 17, NMT would be avoiding planning shows for that date in the future, Burns joked.
■ A Night on Broadway will be at the Red Door Theatre on Atawhai Drive, Nelson, from September 19 to 22. Tickets from iticket.co.nz.