An aspect of recent Palmerston North social history gets ‘the treatment’ in this newly written play.  In 1984 Danny Yeung arrived in the city from Hong Kong, opening an establishment called The China Inn at 155 Broadway Ave.  With Danny as hands-on host, it would go on to achieve fame as Palmy’s prime karaoke bar.

Thirty-seven years later on New Year’s morning 2021, after one final night of karaoke carousal, Danny closed The China Inn for good. During those not quite four decades, his bar had seen it all: hens’ parties, stag dos, 21sts, impromptu restroom matings, weddings, wakes, hissy-fits, break-ups, brawls and plenty of screechy caterwauling. It was also where Palmy’s theatre crowd came for après show singing sessions.  

It should then come as no surprise to learn that first-time playwright Kate Louise Elliott had been a keen karaoke ‘queen’, as had Last Song?! director Carrie Green, alongside many who now find themselves included in Last Song?!’s community-based cast.  

Elliott’s affectionate tribute to the iconic bar is in the grand Centrepoint Theatre tradition of home-grown seasonal shows, established by Alison Quigan (artistic director 1986 to 2004). A quirkily contrived story with a somewhat predictable outcome, Last Song?! is told with plenty of heart, peopled with colourful representatives of The China Inn’s clientele, and pitched unashamedly at the warm fuzzy end of the festive season. The trick with any tale is, of course, the way it’s told, and this is put together with care and imagination.

Last Song?! begins in the theatre foyer. Centrepoint hosts attired in Danny’s signature black pants, crisply laundered white shirt and natty bowtie greets the full house premiere audience. Among them, Danny’s nephew Steven Young appearins as the stage-fright afflicted Leo, among a rota of other parts.

On Ian Harman’s evocative China Inn inspired set, the 11-member cast is anchored by three seasoned pros. Elliott plays ‘Kaka’ Karen, a strident ex-pat Palmynaut returned from Auckland as the new owner of the bar, accompanied by Mark Wright as her hen-pecked North Shore former car dealer husband, Craig. Palmy-raised actor Greg Johnson plays the blokey ‘fancies-himself’ Simon, lawnmowing contractor and regular patron.

Two eight-strong ensembles of community actors – the Pina Coladas and the Mojitos – will take week-about turns as karaoke singers, custies and a cutely co-ordinated flight of ducks, including the proverbial lame one. This particular off-the-wall insertion is not so much Swan Lake as a non-balletic Victoria Esplanade Duck Pond. Hey, hey, there’s even a mai-mai (though that song doesn’t make the karaoke cut) and somewhat gratuitously, a large yellow chicken suit, which oddly fits the adult panto vibe.

While some of the opening night timing is off and the performances, especially in the early scenes, can certainly tighten up, the pro-am combination works a treat. Notable among the Pina Colada ensemble is Erica Ward as Carly, the no-nonsense karaoke MC, Leona Revell as a laddish ‘Razor’ and Mark Kilsby as woebegone Wayne, who it seems must never be allowed to sing his favourite song. It’ll be interesting to see what the Mojitos can bring to the show when their turn off the bench comes around.  

If you’re not or never have been into karaoke, don’t let that put you off. Last Song?! plucks the right notes. It is a comic, entertaining, feel-good community celebration stacked with local references that is far more engaging than you might expect. The way it weaves personal stories between snippets of popular songs makes it a fitting finale for Centrepoint’s 50^th anniversary year and worthy of a place alongside other locally written hit shows in the same tradition. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer