REVIEW: The Phantom of the Opera (The Civic)

February 12, 2016

[Far too many notes for my taste] I should declare my Phandom up-front: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s masterpiece – yes, masterpiece – is a long-standing favourite. The moment Rob Guest’s mask was ripped from his face to reveal the Phantom’s awful disfigurement is a childhood memory burned into my mind. Amici’s pro-amateur production is the third version of the show I’ve […]

WEST END BOY: Theatre Scenes goes to London, Part One

August 13, 2013

Musical Theatre from the West End: Simply Spectacle [by James Wenley] New Zealand theatre has longed looked to the UK with a gleam of idolisation. Just as this nation’s story has been one of a gradual weaning off the Mother Country’s teat, so too has the nation’s theatre slowly relied less on overseas imports and claimed our own stories. That’s […]

BROADWAY BABY: Theatre Scenes goes to Broadway

November 24, 2011

A Kiwi in NYC [by James Wenley] Where can you find Harry Potter leading a dance number, Samuel L Jackson acting as a civil rights Mofo, and Spiderman trying not to fall into the audience? The Great White Way, the Capital of the Musical: Broadway Baby. New York, New York. Last month I travelled to New York in pursuit of […]