Backstage

Introducing our extended mix podcast this week! Actor, Director, Tutor, all-round renaissance man Kyle Chuen dishes the goods on Assassins, working with performing arts students at Wintec, and looking ahead to Bold Theatre's 2022 production, when he'll be co-directing (with the uber-talented Courteney Mayall) That Bloody Woman! And funnily enough... that's our Musical of the Week too!

This week's musical explores the story of Anastasia Romanov... based on the Disney movie, how does the stage show stack up? And Geoff Turkington checks in on the success of the crowd funding appeal for the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival AND he lets us in on one of the hot drawcards for the '22 festival!

What went wrong for My Fair Lady, after so many years as a crowd pleaser? And what's the first rule of the Backstage Actor's Studio? We can reveal all in this week's episode!

It's Covid Catch-Up Time! The multi-talented and indespensible Deb Nudds, from The Meteor Theatre joins us to talk about locking down 2021-style... and we take a close look at our Musical of the Week — I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.

Clothes maketh... the show! Great costume designers are worth their weight in gold, to any production. Unsung heroes a lot of the time, today we shine our little spotlight on their work. And we leap, tumble and spin our way into the Musical of the Week — Bring it On: The Musical.

Challenging times for the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival — Festival Director Geoff Turkington talks about pulling it together for 2022, and because it's Halloween this month (not really because of that) our Musical of the Week is Ghost – The Musical.

Still stunning, gripping, relevant and thought-provoking, even after 64 years... our Musical of the Week is the brilliant West Side Story! And we look at the intricate characters that make up the drama in our (occasional) Play of the Week – August: Osage County.

Whatever you do, don't mention Frau Blücher... Our Musical of the Week is Young Frankenstein (The Musical) and we go into the critical importance or props — why they're such an incredibly important part of the theatrical experience and why it's so vital they're done right!

The rich and almost ignored history of Māori theatre and how it was given new life... and Into The Woods is our Musical of the Week.

What the Fu— ? This week we get into the subject of cussing on stage, so buckle in... The goalposts are always effing-well changing! And our Musical of the Week is the 1972 classic, Pippin!