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This event’s been cancelled
Shortland Street - The Musical: CANCELLED

Dates

  • Wed 27 Mar 2019, 7:30pm
  • Thu 28 Mar 2019, 7:30pm
  • Fri 29 Mar 2019, 7:30pm
  • Sat 30 Mar 2019, 2:00pm
  • Sat 30 Mar 2019, 7:30pm

Restrictions

All Ages

Listed by

Venues Wellington

Ferndale: Up In Lights

Shortland Street – The Musical.

The moment has finally arrived, New Zealand. Our favourite TV drama will have its musical theatre debut this November with an all-singing, all-dancing cast.

Directed by long-time Shortland Street producer and stage director Simon Bennett, Shortland Street – The Musical is an affectionate parody of the TV soap genre. It opens at the ASB Waterfront Theatre on 17 November as part of Auckland Theatre Company’s 2018 season, before heading off on a national tour in March 2019.

Fans of the TV show will recognise the iconic characters and classic stories from the earliest years of the popular New Zealand drama, which are specifically drawn from 1992 to 1995.

Remember how yuppie playboy Dr Chris Warner had his feathers ruffled when humanitarian Dr Hone Ropata arrived in town, fresh from Guatemala? And when bratty teenager Rachel McKenna got struck by lightning and fell in love with her gormless bestie, Nick?

In this musical theatre adaptation, Chris Warner and Hone Ropata have to ignore their mutual loathing when they find themselves charged with saving the All Blacks, defending a murder case and rescuing the clinic from Chris’ capitalist father Sir Bruce Warner, who wants to turn Shortland Street into a medical resort for the rich and famous.

At the Nurse’s Station, Alison Raynor dreams of true love, Robo-Nurse Carrie Burton wants a baby and Jackie Manu gives breaking the glass ceiling a crack.

Adding a hit of adrenaline to the show are the hilarious songs written by Guy Langford, including Stuck in a Love Triangle, Cliffhanger, The Five Wives of Doctor Warner and, of course, Not in Guatemala Now.

Langford, who conceived and composed the musical, collaborated with Simon Bennett (Outrageous Fortune, The Almighty Johnsons, Assassins, Into the Woods) over a number of years to create this show. An initial version first saw the light of day at a small development showing as part of Auckland Arts Festival 2017.

With his boy-next-door good looks, the multi-talented Guy Langford will take up the pivotal role of Dr Chris Warner.

Also leading the cast are Lisa Chappell (McLeod’s Daughters, Fallen Angels, Peer Gynt [recycled], Menopause The Musical) playing Nurse Carrie Burton, and Mark Hadlow (The Hobbit, MAMIL, Nell Gwynn, Last Legs), playing both Sir Bruce Warner and Dr Michael McKenna for the Auckland season, before Cameron Rhodes takes over these roles for the tour.

Brilliant, award-winning comedy actor Chris Parker (Hudson and Halls Live, Funny Girls, 7 Days) will play the dorky Nick Harrison. Rachel McKenna, the role made famous by Angela Bloomfield, will be played by Comfrey Sanders (Don Juan, Jekyll & Hyde, Lord of the Flies).

Shortland Street – The Musical comes to the stage with the blessing of both the creators and broadcasters of the TV show, South Pacific Pictures and TVNZ.

With show stopping tunes and brilliant music, audiences are in for a riotous celebration of everything that is uniquely Kiwi about Shortland Street.

Bennett says, “After 26 years, Shortland Street has firmly cemented itself at the heart of Kiwi popular culture. The TV show has put social and topical issues at the centre of its storylines and in this way has traced the social history of NZ through a tumultuous quarter-century. Shortland Street - The Musical takes the characters and storylines of the early years of the show and whips them up into a comic musical confection.”

Following the Auckland season the production will tour to Wellington in March 2019. The tour is being produced by Bennett and Langford’s company Struck By Lightning Ltd.

See the website for details.

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