Paul Potts to head Rotorua concert
Welsh tenor joining NZ artists on stage
Atoe-tapping night full of songs and stories from 50 years of musical theatre is set to grace the stage in Rotorua, featuring well-known Welsh tenor Paul Potts.
A line-up featuring some of New Zealand’s finest stage performers will join global phenomenon Potts in ‘50 Golden Years of Musicals’, coming to our city as part of a tour around the country.
The Welsh tenor, who shot to fame by winning Britain’s Got Talent with his performance of Nessun Dorma, will be a special guest, performing some of the greatest musical theatre songs from the past five decades, including Chicago and Starlight Express as well as the song that changed his life.
50 Golden Years of Musicals celebrates the unprecedented musical journey of New Zealand producers Stewart and Tricia Macpherson, with Potts representing the hundreds of international artists they have toured in their stellar careers.
The show will be in Rotorua on April 14, and will feature songs from musicals including Blood Brothers, The Rocky Horror Show, Evita, Starlight Express, Flashdance, Million Dollar Quartet, American Idiot, Pirates of Penzance, Chicago, Jekyll & Hyde
and Phantom of the Opera.
Featuring a setlist from the Macphersons’ catalogue of personal favourites, songs such as Time Warp from Rocky Horror, Don’t Cry For Me Argentina from Evita, the classic Memory from Cats, All That Jazz from Chicago,
the high-energy What A Feeling from Flashdance, and many more will have audiences singing and reliving many memories.
Bullied at school, singing in the local church choir proved to be a sanctuary for Paul Potts.
Listening to La Boheme at the age of 16, Potts fell in love with opera, a romance that was to set him on a turbulent journey which would eventually lead him to win the first series of Britain’s Got Talent in 2007.
A life-changing event, Potts released his multi-platinum debut album One Chance that year,
topped the charts in 13 countries, appeared on Oprah twice, brought Times Square to a standstill and announced a global arena tour.
Potts is constantly touring, having now performed more than 1000 times across 46 countries. Since Potts’ Britain’s Got Talent win, he has released a further six studio albums.
Potts said there would be a real mix of musical theatre shows featured in this concert, and his involvement had been “a bit of a happy accident”.
He said he found out it was the 50th-anniversary event of the Macphersons’ musical journey, and messaged wishing them well. He made a passing comment that he would be coming to Auckland, and they suggested he be part of the show.
Potts said 50 Golden Years of Musicals would feature a lot of upbeat songs, which was something people needed after the last few years.
He said he was looking forward to visiting a few places he had not been to in Aotearoa New Zealand before.
“I love coming to New Zealand, I’ve toured New Zealand a couple [of] times.”
Rotorua is a city Potts has already visited before.
“Lizzie Marvelly showed me around there the first time I went in 2008. I’ve been a few times, and it always seems to be close to Easter.”
He said the audience was always really receptive and he enjoyed getting that reaction from them. When asked what it was he loved about performing, Potts said the main highlight was doing what he loves and seeing great places while doing it.
“I’ve performed in 46 countries and seen so much. For me, it’s something that makes me feel complete.”
Joining Potts on stage are some of New Zealand’s most experienced stage performers, including Delia Hannah, Matt Pike, Nigel Godfrey and Leanne Howell.