Backstage

Girl From The North Country is our Musical of the Week (Dylan's music and the Great Depression) plus we have a play about a hat and our good friend Jono Freebairn virtually drops in for a korero.

Not for the faint of heart, we explore the darkness of the play 'The Pillowman' — plus we feature a sampling of Tolstoy with our Musical of the Week, 'Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812'... We're not afraid of the big stuff! Stay safe and wear a mask!

Bootlegging... hands up who's seen at least a little bit of a bootleg recording of a major show! It's illegal, of course, so why do people keep doing it? Our Musical of the Week this time is the heart-warming story of a boy who wanted to dance — Billy Elliot. (You might have to search YouTube for a bootleg copy if you want to see the actual show though!)

You can't do everything and be in everything — sometimes you REALLY need to take a break. We discuss when it's a good thing to say 'No'... And our Musical of the Week is Pretty Woman: The Musical. Yeah, we hadn't heard of it either!

We take you from the tortured, fractuous relationship of Martha and George in Edward Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginnia Woolf?' (our Play of the Day) to the exotic world of ancient Egypt in 'Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida' (our Musical of the Week)... Backstage this week is a jam-packed journey from start to finish!

How big is too big... and how small is too small? We discuss fitting the production to the venue, and at last have chosen one of Mike's least favourite shows as our Musical of the Week — Kismet! (Yuck)

Reviewing the reviewers... what is the role of a critic these days? Should we even have them? And we celebrate the circle of life with our Musical of the Week — The Lion King.

We're packed to the rafters! We cover the 2021 Boil Up event at The Meteor in Hamilton; discuss Lin-Manuel Miranda's movie of In the Heights (a bomb or DA BOMB?); go deep into The Color Purple (our Musical of the Week); plus our usual round-up of what's on around our patch!

Casting issues... We explore and discuss the need for integrity when it comes to equal opportunities for actors with disabilities, different ethnicities, gender identity, sexuality and so on. And our Musical of the Week is A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.

Grab your sleeping bag, we're covering an eight-hour epic play 'Angels in America' (let's be fair, it's two four-hour parts) and delving behind the music with our #MusicaloftheWeek, Dreamgirls.