November 18, 2009

 

CENTREPOINT THEATRE 2010 SEASON
Principal Sponsor Bank of New Zealand

Centrepoint Theatre’s 2010 line-up has been released and it looks to be another exciting year!

After the huge success of the 2009 season Kate Louise Elliott, Artistic Director of Centrepoint has stuck to a winning formula. The plays will be all by NZ playwrights with a good mix of musicals, comedies and of course a couple of really good dramas.

The 2010 season will kick off with Blondes by Georgia Wood, a cabaret-style musical celebrating some of the iconic blonde vocalists of our era.

In April and May we bring you the latest Roger Hall production: Four Flat Whites in Italy. Four Flat Whites In Italy has already been staged by all the major theatres around the country and has proven to be even more popular than Roger Hall’s recent hit Who Wants to be 100? which sold out at Centrepoint Theatre earlier this year. So you will want to start snapping up tickets for this one now!

The third show of the season Up North is a heartfelt drama set in 1950’s New Zealand. A stellar cast deliver this world premier play – a story that will relate in some way or another to many families in New Zealand. Up North is written by 2009 Bruce Mason Playwright winner, Roger Hall’s daughter, Pip Hall.  

Winter, will see the return of cult musical Dead Tragiclast performed here 20 years ago. The original cast return to perform more than 20 hits from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Sure to brighten up your winter, this is the funniest musical you will ever see about death!

The Cape, by Vivienne Plumb, will bring in some fresh young talent to the theatre. Directed by TV3’s Jesse Peach, this story about four young men on a road trip to Cape Reinga will have you laughing, crying and hugging the person next to you.

2010 will finish off with a very fun, very entertaining and light-hearted comedy called Penalties, Pints and Pirouettes! with something for everyone (rugby, beer and ballet!), it’s ideal for a great end of year get together.

Season Passes are now on sale so grab yours today (or buy one as a gift) so that you can see all six shows at a great price, enjoy a drink before the show and be guaranteed seats!

Centrepoint Theatre also have Gift Tickets available. These are valid for a year so the recipient will be able to choose from any of the above productions, making it a great gift for friends, family, staff and clients.

The theatre would like to thank the audience, their sponsors and the media for their outstanding support during 2009. People are coming to the theatre more often, and a lot of people new to the theatre have given it a go. Thanks to that dedication, audience numbers were up 30% from 2008. Next year we promise another exciting programme and ask you all to keep supporting and enjoying the theatre. If you are not going to come to all the shows we would definitely recommend seeing at least one drama and one comedy.

Prices:
$300 Double Season Pass (two people to all six shows), $162 Single Season Pass (one person to all six shows), $35 Adults, $30 Senior Citizens, $20 Community Service Card Holders, $20 Senior Gold Card Holders, $12 Students, $25 under 30’s

Bookings:
Phone 06 354 5740, online at www.centrepoint.co.nz, email centrepoint@centrepoint.co.nz, visit 280 Church Street. Yes you can book for any of next years shows now.

2010 SeasOn PROGRAMME

BLONDES
by Georgia Wood

Musical Revue – 13 March – 27 March

Celebrating Hollywood bombshells, divas of jazz, country, soul and pop all with one thing in common . . .

Blondes is a sassy salute to some of the great vocalists and personalities of our time. The hits, the highlights and the humour of these Golden Girls of stage and screen are showcased by singer and actress Georgia Wood as she recalls their famous quips and interprets the much-loved songs that made these women superstars.
 
Come up and see Mae, take a sentimental journey with Doris, get the fever from Peggy, and rock out with Madonna. Tour Planet Blonde with Georgia and rediscover the iconic Blondes and their classic songs.
 
Four Flat Whites In Italy
by Roger Hall

Comedy – 10 April – 22 May 

Travelling with your nearest and dearest is difficult enough…but with a couple you’ve only just met?  This is OE for the over-fifties, when tensions can arise from sharing everything from the bathroom to the bill.   And as for sharing the driving on the autostrada!

Four Flat Whites in Italy has broken box-office records all over the country—even more popular than Roger Hall’s recent hit, Who Wants to be 100?   

Up North
by Pip Hall

Drama – 5 June – 3 July

Rural New Zealand. The 1950s.
Childless couple Evelyn and Jimmy Davis live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Times are tough. Financially stretched, they agree to foster a pregnant unwed teenager, who has been shipped ‘up north’ to await the birth of her unplanned baby.

Evie and Jimmy are initially judgmental, but Maggie proves to be a welcome breath of fresh air in their otherwise mundane lives. They couldn’t be more different: The Davis’s are people of the land – simple, set in their ways – while townie Maggie is vivacious and curious about the world. However, they soon discover they have more in common than just a love of dancing. Each are social outcasts in their own way, and they all harbour secrets and shattered dreams.

As the baby grows, the claustrophobic isolation paired with the community’s crippling conformity gradually leads them all into temptation that will change their lives forever.

Dead Tragic
by Michael Nicholas Williams

Musical – 10 July – 14 August

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the theatre…
Dead Tragic, the cult musical of the 90s returns with the original cast.

Who shot who at the Copacabana?

What did they do to Maria? (When they did what they did to Maria!)

Why did Billy Joe MacAllister jump off the Tallahatchie Bridge?

These, and many other mysteries of pop music may be answered by Dead Tragic.

Featuring more than 20 hits (and misses) from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Dead Tragic – a musical night from HELL!!!

The Cape
by Vivienne Plumb

Comedy / Drama – 21 August – 18 September

The year is 1994. Kurt Cobain is dead but Eb, Mo, Arthur and Jordyn are seventeen years old, on the road and very much alive. They are making a journey north to the leaping place of the spirits – Cape Reinga. A story about that moment in every young person’s life when they leave the child behind and are forced to accept adulthood.

PENALTIES, PINTS AND PIROUETTES
by Neil Troost

Comedy – 6 November – 18 December

The annual rugby trip is beckoning and the lads can’t wait – of course this has nothing to do with the game, these boys haven’t won a game in years – it’s the male bonding, the time away, the beer that they’re looking forward to.

Enter the wives, who forbid the trip unless the boys promise to take part in the PTA fundraiser.
CUE: hilarity, tension and moves that should never be allowed on the dance floor!