In the smoke-filled Emporium of Scintillating Wonders stage, at the Hamilton Gardens, Rutene Spooner takes the stage with his four-piece band to whoops and applause. Within the opening bars of his first song, Rutene has the audience rapt – and the magic of Thoroughly Modern Maui carries on even after the encore.

Describing himself as the “illegitimate love child of Shirley Bassey and Prince Tui Teka,” Spooner channels Māui-Tikitiki-A-Taranga (Māui) via a bedazzled jacket and the rich tenor voice that has wowed audiences on both sides of the Tasman. A chance to take on cabaret from a Māori perspective, Thoroughly Modern Māui is a love letter to cabaret, mythos and identity, an accessible exploration of racism and language, and a ripping hour of comedy, music and storytelling that needs to be seen.

Spooner welcomes his audience in with his opening song before uniting his audience as a “show whānau” and explaining our need to draw inspiration from real-life super men and women to get us through – and so he turns to Māui, asking how he can become a the modern-day Māui he needs to be. From there, the songs and kōrero take us through the foundations of the Māui mythos, the ways in which Spooner has formed and reclaimed his name and identity, the challenges of being dressed in words and assumptions based on his clothing and speech.

Special highlights include the waiata about racial profiling by security guards, disguised as a doo-wop love song; the challenges of being a contemporary Māui facing trials of Lego on the floor; and supermarket trips. At times, Spooner becomes a Billy T James uncle (complete with towel on his shoulder), channels Sir Howard Morrison’s smooth baritone and crescendos into the range of the 80s rock god’s power ballad. It’s formidable, compelling and shows Spooner’s impressive range as a singer and star.

Spooner is described as a “burgeoning musical theatre star”, but if the powers that be see this show, then I reckon that he will soon, and deservedly, be able to cut the “burgeoning”.  Spooner’s CV is already well decorated: a graduate of the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (NASDA) in Christchurch; leading roles at the Pop-Up Globe; tours across Australasia (including Jersey Boys, Chicago, Billy Elliot). His original show Super Hugh-Man – a tribute to film and theatre star Hugh Jackman –emerged in 2017 and toured in 2019, offering Spooner a chance to explore the solo cabaret genre.

In some ways, Maui explores the same themes as Super Hugh-Man: a semi-autobiographical life story built around a mythic figure that influenced Spooner’s life for the better. But Maui goes further – bigger, wilder, funnier, more heartfelt, more urgent – for an unforgettable show that deserves to be seen by many and cause Spooner to become a household name.

As the night goes on, Spooner locates his strength in being himself – not catching the sun, as the legend, but changing his own tides and winds – and encouraging others to look to others as legends in their own right.

Thoroughly Modern Māui is funny, heartfelt, flawlessly performed, confronting and welcoming, and precisely what’s needed in the current climate. The show has gained extra pertinence, given a coalition intent on making Te Ao Māori something to be left to history. In this context, a show about finding strength in Māori identity is more important and affecting than ever. I’m gutted that there was only one show at the Hamilton Arts Festival/Toi Ora Ki Kirikiriroa – it seems our city was the last, having been missed from national tours due to Covid.

Follow Spooner closely, catch the next season, and take your whanau. Thoroughly Modern Māui is faultless. 

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A well deserved standing ovation greets Rutene Spooner’s Thoroughly Modern Maui – Te Māui o Nainei.

Kāore te kūmara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka – the kumara never speaks of its own sweetness, so I will.

Ngati Porou & Ngaruahine Actor, Singer & Comedian, Rutene Spooner is a entertainment force to be reckoned with. His dynamic performance and powerful voice oozes with ease. He holds his audience in the palm of his hand, totally engaged in the magic that he weaves.

Tongue-in-cheek oneliners fall easily from his mouth he is the self-proclaimed “love child of Shirley Bassey and Prince Tui Teka.” Charismatic and comedic he has us roaring with laughter and inently listening to his valuable commentaries of histroical trauma.

His magic with Māori humour is enthralling. His cheeky, mischief, haututu ways bring Maui to life. With a twinkle in his eyes and a mullet wig later, Rutene Spooner transforms into our shape shifting Maui Tikitiki-A-Taranga: half – God half Man.

This “Thoroughly Modern Maui” takes a contemporary approach to a Māori  super hero, half man, half God, Maui Tikitiki-a-Taranga, Maui-Pōtiki, Maui te whare kino he is known through out Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. The trickster, the shape shifter, the many different adventures of Maui. Tonight, his appearance in a mullet wig has great comic effect.

His delivery of a one-of-a-kind mihimihi would have the kaumatua on the Marae rolling in the aisles. His incredibly clever korero, performed with a microphone and mic stand as his tokotoko stick, is delivered with the aplomb and finesse of a great orator showing his whaikorero prowess. All is accentuated and wrapped up in an eloquently presented whakapapa of Maui Tikitiki-a-Taranga, down through the lines of Rongotope, Poutupari, onto Paikea and then Porourangi settling on his uri Rutene Spooner.

This is Māori humour at its finest, funny, cheeky and truthful with deeply serious issues founded in historical trauma affecting modern Māori today. The messages ring loudly with lyrics like “Black Bold & Beautiful –  I want my Goodie Oodie Oodie Oodie profiling hoodie”.

Although we did not experience the traditional Maui purakau korero that most people have come to know, what we did receive was Rutene Spooner’s modern Maui: a spectacular Super Hero performance wrapped up in Te Reo Māori me ona Tikanga.

It was wonderful to hear and share fresh raucous laughter filling Pipitea Marae. But always remembering beneath the laughter is deep messages of historical trauma of Te Ao Māori in a modern world.

Playfulness and creative communication are all instrumental to an artiste’s unique style. Spooner remains himself inside his material; this is his magic, his signature in performance.

All done with a twinkle in his eyes, which i haven’t seen since the days of Prince Tui Teka & Dalvanius Prime, Spooner is supported beautifully by the band ‘Pork Bones and Harmony’.

Having dragged my reluctant 16 year-old mokopuna to the show, who had the teenage audacity to tell the Festival Director prior to the show how “Bored” he was, he exclaims at the End of Show, “Wow, I didn’t want it to end, can we go again? He’s coming to Otaki!”

Not often do I rave about a performaner but Spooner is Aotearoa’s next big entertainment Star: a powerful charismatic anthem performer.

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