August – September 2013
SWAN LAKE
a timeless celebration of ballet
WICKED
touches down
MICHAEL WINSLOW´s career renaissance
LUANNE GORDON speaks in tongues
apo.co.nz
Choral Masterpieces
Mozart Requiem 8pm, Thursday 12 September Auckland Town Hall Conductor Bernard Labadie Haydn Cello Concerto No.1 in C major Cello Alban Gerhardt Mozart Requiem Soprano Nicole Car Mezzo soprano Sarah Castle Tenor Paul McMahon Baritone Stephan Loges Choir Voices New Zealand Director Dr Karen Grylls Classical and Baroque specialist Bernard Labadie leads the orchestra and Voices New Zealand in Mozart’s much-loved choral work. Left unfinished on the composer’s deathbed, Mozart’s Requiem is a work shrouded in mystery, that stands as a testament to the composer’s genius.
Book now at buytickets.co.nz / 09-357-3355
live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
LIVE SHORTS
Hit Picks
Ticketmaster has been appointed the exclusive ticket seller for events at THE EDGE venues. This means that any new events on sale will be sold via Ticketmaster and any events that were already on sale before 1 July continue to be sold through THE EDGE Ticketing.
Enter the competitions at www.the-edge.co.nz/comps We asked and they answered – read our Q&As at www.the-edge.co.nz/hitpicks Watch videos on our blog at www.the-edge.co.nz/ thereadingroom
If you’re not sure where to purchase tickets for your event, check the event by searching on our website or call THE EDGE Ticketing on 09 357 3355 / 0800 BUY TICKETS (0800 289 842).
Download the digital edition of LIVE and read our blog at www.the-edge.co.nz/ thereadingroom
STOMP
Nicole Car
Caffe L’Affare is now the coffee supplier at both of our cafés. If you’re around the Aotea Centre, BOX is located on the terrace and Stark’s is right next to The Civic foyer. Don’t forget that you can drop by BOX or Stark’s for a preshow beverage, as well as enjoying the cafés during the day.
6 – 11 August | ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
Jamie McDell
Keep in touch with us for the latest news about events at our venues by signing up for our e-newsletter at www.the-edge.co.nz/signup
The Global Citizen Concert 4 August Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Craft beer drinkers will be pleased to note that Stark’s now has a craft beer tap alongside the Stella Artois tap. The new tap features Tuatara Aotearoa Pale Ale, the local alternative to the hoppy American Pale Ale.
Aotea Square Ice Rink Until 11 August | Aotea Square
Mozart Requiem 12 September Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
National Geographic Live: Grizzlies, Piranhas and Man–Eating Pigs 23 August Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Director’s pick Robbie Macrae is Director of THE EDGE, the organisation that manages
Editor Josie Campbell – media@the-edge.co.nz
four of Auckland’s key venues – the Aotea Centre, The Civic, Auckland
Advertising & listing enquiries Rahul Patel – live@the-edge.co.nz
Town Hall and Aotea Square. As well as working with local and international
Designer Oliver Rosser
promoters and companies to bring events to the performance spaces, THE EDGE programmes a number of
Theatre Marketing Manager Angela Gourdie
events designed to make the arts accessible, particularly to younger audiences. Now in the middle of its fifth season, Pick & Mix is one of
Cover image Gillian Murphy, Swan Lake Photo credit: Ross Brown
the programmes Robbie is most proud of. “For the past five winters, Pick & Mix has brightened up Saturday mornings with free performances and workshops taking over our
Pick & Mix
Every Saturday until 31 August Details at www.the-edge.co.nz/pm
foyers. We’ve had everything from circus to ballet to ukulele and the audiences just keep growing. My pick from this year’s programme is Hip Hop Clowning on 10 August where the audience can watch and learn elements of clowning, theatre and dance.“
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live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
BALLET THAT LIVES A ND BRE ATHES Russell Kerr, Sara Neilana, Juan Matteucci, 1959. Photograph John Ashton.
Champagne corks will be popping as the Royal New Zealand Ballet turns 60 this year and – far from showing its age – it’s celebrating with wonderful events and performances of Russell Kerr’s exquisite production of Swan Lake. By Diana Balham.
Russell Kerr was not among the performers. In 1953, the 'living legend' of New Zealand dance, now in his eighties and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, was performing with the London Festival Ballet as its Principal Character Dancer.
His description of how he learnt about the company’s formation is mind-boggling in these days of constant communication: “My return to New Zealand in 1957 was prompted by an assurance given when I applied for a Government bursary in 1949,” he says. “I stated that I would return to pass on knowledge and experience to help further the art of ballet in this country. During the month-long voyage back to New Zealand, I began preparing plans for establishing a ballet company but, when I arrived, I discovered not only had a New Zealand Ballet company already been established by Poul Gnatt but that he and his dancers had been touring for some four years!”
For Principal Guest Artist Gillian Murphy, dancing the tricky double role of Odette and Odile is a challenge to which she’s happy to rise. It’s a black-and-white issue, really: “Odette is a tragic heroine. She represents goodness, purity and hope for the realisation of true love and freedom. Odile is her foil and is symbolic of evil: a femme fatale who enjoys tricking the Prince into swearing his love for the wrong woman. Each show is quite a journey!” Ethan Stiefel
E
d Hillary thought so. The Queen did too. And for a great many New Zealanders who were interested in dance as well as mountains and royalty, 1953 was a bumper year. In a few breathtaking weeks, the world’s highest peak was claimed, a new British monarch was crowned and little old New Zealand grew a few proud inches with the establishment of our national ballet company. Danish Royal Ballet Principal Dancer Poul Gnatt founded the New Zealand Ballet (as it was then) and, on 30 June, it gave its first performance with 20 senior and 18 junior dancers, accompanied by a 10-piece orchestra.
Gillian Murphy
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There were no hard feelings and Russell pursued freelance teaching and choreographing before joining the company as a dancer in 1959. He was its Artistic Director from 1962 to 1968 and has choreographed and produced many works over the years. Not surprisingly, he’s very proud of what he and many others have achieved in a country better known for its love of the oval ball and the 'She’ll be right!' mentality than the performing arts. In fact, our no-nonsense nature and sense of equality are artistic points of difference, he says.
It’s highly appropriate that Russell’s landmark production of Swan Lake has been chosen to mark this significant birthday, says Artistic Director Ethan Stiefel. “It’s a timeless celebration of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s history, present and future – not just the ballet but who was behind it: iconic New Zealanders like Russell Kerr and [costume designer] Kristian Fredrikson – which enable it to sit alongside the greatest presentations. Swan Lake carries the weight of history for good reason: it’s the gold standard for many dancers.”
“I believe our company stands apart because of the nature of its versatility. There are critics who maintain versatility can lead to mediocrity but this is certainly not so with the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB). There is a certain 'Kiwiness', particularly with some contemporary works. Often as not, this is because there are choreographers who embrace subtle ideas introduced by company dancers.”
This version of the classic 'tutus and tragedy' ballet was first performed in 1996; this is its fourth outing but, as Ethan points out, the work “continues to live and breathe” with each incarnation. “There will be changes. We will tweak it with a new scene or a new prop but it’s about how it’s danced as much as material changing. It will have a 2013 sensibility but it ain’t broke so we’re not really fixing it.”
Gillian divides her time between the RNZB and the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where she is a Principal Dancer but she’s always happy to be back in New Zealand – not least because Ethan, who was also a Principal Dancer with the ABT, is her fiancé. “I love working for Ethan and seeing how the RNZB dancers are thriving under his direction,” she says. But Kiwis and ballet made an impression on Gillian long before her career brought her here. “Funnily enough, the RNZB was the first professional company I ever saw,” she continues. “I grew up in a rural part of South Carolina in the United States, and it just so happened that the RNZB had a tour to the South-east when I was a young teenager. Many years later, I’m now proud to be part of the company, and I think 60 years is a wonderful milestone for New Zealand to celebrate. The RNZB is a great cultural institution with so much history and such an exciting future ahead.”
THE VODAFONE SEASON OF SWAN LAKE 21 – 25 August | The Civic
live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
The Royal New Zealand Ballet
at 60
Ballet fans can own their own piece of memorabilia with the publication of The Royal New Zealand Ballet at 60. The book celebrates the artistic directors, choreographers, dancers and memories of the first six decades of our nation’s ballet company. The book is filled with images and stories, the perfect coffee table book for the ballet lover. Shown here are a few images from the book, depicting some of the previous seasons of Swan Lake.
Sir Jon Trimmer and Carl Myers, Swan Lake, 1985.
A limited number of copies of The Royal New Zealand Ballet at 60 is available from good bookstores and Victoria University Press.
Kerry-Anne Gilberd Swan Lake, 1986.
and
Stephen
Nicholls,
Celebrating in Auckland His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae, GovernorGeneral of New Zealand, will be hosting a 60th birthday party for the RNZB at Government House on Tuesday 20 August at 6.00pm. Phone (04) 381 9009 for more information.
We have a copy of The Royal New Zealand Ballet at 60 to give away, visit www.the-edge.co.nz/comps to enter.
Swan Lake promotional poster, 1996
Cover image, The Royal New Zealand Ballet at 60
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a Wicked woman Ambitious, manipulative, cruel and vengeful: no we’re not talking about Joan ‘The Freak’ Ferguson, the prison guard character that Australian actor Maggie Kirkpatrick turned into one of TV’s most feared villains. Rather it’s Madame Morrible whom she brings to life in the musical Wicked. Dionne Christian talks to Maggie about why she relishes playing wicked women.
M
aggie Kirkpatrick started her career in 1961 playing a witch in the Perth-based John Alden’s Shakespeare Company production of Macbeth. Some 52 years later, she’s back on stage with witches, although not quite in league with them. She plays Madame Morrible in the multi-award-winning musical Wicked, which touches down in Auckland in September. It tells the untold story of the witches from The Wizard of Oz who have an intriguing history dating back to long before Dorothy dropped into Oz. The tale unfolded in Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and has been cleverly adapted for the stage by a production team which includes Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz. Elphaba is intelligent, feisty and determined but her emerald-green skin means she is frequently marginalised and misunderstood; Glinda is a high-society blonde bombshell who’s popular and ambitious. Chalk and cheese they may be, but Elphaba and Galinda meet at Shiz University and become friends – until headmistress Madame Morrible’s despicable deeds lead them to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. Maggie, 72, first appeared as Morrible in Melbourne in 2008 and has toured Australia and South-east Asia with Wicked. She’s thrilled to be reprising the role, saying she loves everything about the production from the rehearsal period – “it’s so lovely to come together as a cast and build a rapport with one another” – to the fabulous and fantastical costumes she gets to wear. But she acknowledges those costumes, deliberately sculptured to include metres of material, humps and bustles which reflect Morrible’s bizarre and unshaped personality, can be a challenge at times.
Having won 35 major accolades, including Grammy and Tony awards, and been seen by some 36 million people worldwide, Wicked is regarded as one of the defining musicals of the last 10 years. ”They can be extremely heavy. Now I’m a fairly big, robust person but we had to make some modifications because I could not sustain a whole performance without experiencing pain in my lower back. That’s not good for anyone – especially a 72-year-old!” Ask Maggie to reflect on her career highlights and she says that having sustained a career during so many years is an achievement in itself. The character Joan Ferguson that she played during the 1980s on Prisoner is regarded as one of the most iconic in Australian TV drama history but could have led to Maggie being typecast or simply overlooked for other roles.
However, her training in theatre and talent as a singer meant Maggie was able to work extensively with some of Australia’s leading theatre companies in dramas, comedies and musicals as well as devise her own one-woman cabaret performances. “I’ve probably given more than 1000 performances in musical theatre but the characters I play can be fairly one dimensional: society women, you know the type. Morrible is a whole other story, though. When you do it eight times a week for nearly five years, as I have done, you want a character with meat on her bones. “Morrible is very complex and certainly not what she seems but is fabulous to play. She’s ambitious and manipulative but I’m not going to give too much away about what makes her the way she is.” But ask Maggie whether, in real life, she would side with the witches or their oppressors and she doesn’t hesitate to name a side. “I would definitely be on the side of the witches because feisty characters who want to change the world appeal to me; I’m always on the side of the rebel but I was never made for politics. I admire people who take risks to make things better.” That said, she has long been involved in campaigning for gay rights and was awarded the Sydney Gay Community’s DIVA award for her work. She didn’t see it as a political act at
all, saying it was more about helping friends and colleagues who were stricken with HIV or AIDS. At present, Maggie is concentrating her energies on donning Madame Morrible’s magnificent – if misshapen – frocks again and preparing her vocal cords for the next incarnation of Wicked now that it’s Auckland’s turn to be enchanted by the big-budget stage show. Having won 35 major accolades, including Grammy and Tony awards, and been seen by some 36 million people worldwide, Wicked is regarded as one of the defining musicals of the last 10 years. Australian co-producer John Frost says, right from the beginning, the show has struck a chord with audiences for many different reasons. “Some people come to see Wicked for the engrossing story, some for the astonishing sets and costumes, some for the soaring ballads and some for the deeper messages, and some come to see the life-affirming friendship between the two girls who grow up to be Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.”
WICKED From 17 September | The Civic
live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
The
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Guru of Gab
'Man of 10,000 sound effects', Michael Winslow’s iconic verbal acrobatics have been signature plays across 30 decades of movies, from Police Academy to Gremlins and Spaceballs. Now he’s bringing his retrospective stand-up show to New Zealand for the first time. Luke Oram talks to the man with the golden vocal cords.
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ichael Winslow is a man with a very particular set of skills – and journalists beware, he’s prepared to use his entire arsenal. Within a 15-minute phone call, the rubbermouthed chameleon covers Snoop Dogg’s answering service, a supermarket scanner, a quiz show for dogs, Bill Cosby, a telemarketer’s worst nightmare, a Puerto Rican housekeeper, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a safari feeding frenzy.
You’ll know Winslow best as Doctor Monsignor Larvelle Jones from the Police Academy franchise. That role was birthed from remarkable serendipity in 1984. Winslow, then a homeless improv comic, was discovered by the inaugural movie’s director Hugh Wilson and immediately written into Academy, setting him on a 30-year career path of vocal acrobatics. Nowadays, Winslow’s something of a comic rock star, etched into Hollywood’s history books for the kind of behaviour that saw him spend most of his high school years in the principal’s office. I catch Winslow’s phone call in the wake of a barnstorming set at Tennessee’s Bonnaroo festival, where he was asked to open, sharing the stage with former members of Sly and the Family Stone, ZZ Top and Billy Idol to deliver a note-for-note vocal rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s best shreds. Does he wake up on mornings like this wondering how the hell he got here? “I ask that question every hour or so!” Winslow chuckles over the line. Ask him to recall the strangest job his motor mouth has ever been commissioned for and he doesn’t skip a beat.
“Strangest? That’d be Gremlins.“ (Winslow provided the voice of nightmarish antagonist Stripe in the movie.) “A lot of people come up to me and tell me that because of Stripe they couldn’t look under their bed for years – I’m really sorry about that,” he adds, before tearing into a snarling Stripe impression that threatens to curdle the trans-Pacific phone line. His current, self-described “career renaissance” has seen Winslow take his 30-year-strong archive of sound effects around the world, returning to his stand-up comedy roots, while an eighth instalment of Police Academy is written, slated for a 2014 shoot. What should we expect from him Down Under? “When it comes to the shows, I take a kitchen-sink approach. A lot has happened since I was last down your way (Winslow was a guest at Wellington’s Armageddon in 2009). I’ve been around the planet a few times, collecting sounds from Slovenia to South Africa. I’ve learned a lot of things; for example, Iron Maiden is huge in Dubai and hip hop is huge in Ireland… uh, okay.” I wonder aloud what he could possibly pick up from New Zealand – an imitation of our local bird? “What’s it sound like?” he quizzes. Ah, it only comes out at night. Just a lot of snuffling I guess. “I can work with that!” Winslow cries. Cue 'DJ Kiwi', a nocturnal dance-floor addict who scratches Led Zep records with his beak.
MICHAEL WINSLOW The man with 10,000 voices 12 August ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
You’ll want to hear it for yourself; I think he really nailed it.
So Much happened Before dorothy dropped In.
on SaLe noW!
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live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
LIVE calendar FAMILY Pick & Mix: Spoken word Come and see the South Auckland Poets perform their brand of spoken word poetry unique to Aotearoa. You will laugh, shout, cry and begin to look at poetry in a completely new way. 3 August, 10.30am | FREE Aotea Centre
Pick & Mix: Aerial Circus SHOW ONE: In the dead of night, the toy-box comes alive... the sailor discovers a beautiful mermaid on a rock and promptly falls in love! Rag-doll is in love with Tin Solider but he just keeps winding down!! and then it’s SHOW TWO: Chaos at the zoo! The monkeys are squabbling, the Lyra bird is swinging from her toes and the snake’s escaped his cage! Look out! 31 August, 7.30pm | FREE Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall
KBB Music Festival – Gala Concerts The top four groups from each category over two exciting concerts – Chamber Orchestras and Concert Bands, Symphony Orchestras and Jazz Bands. Followed by awards ceremony. 25 August, 3pm and 7pm $15* (or $25* for both concerts) Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall An Evening with Joan Baez American singer-songwriter Joan Baez is one of the world’s greatest performers. Regarded essentially as a folk singer, with a distinctive vocal style, her music actually covers a wide range of styles from folk-rock and pop to country and gospel. 29 August, 8pm | $79 – $150* The Civic Stan Walker – World Tour of New Zealand One of the country’s most popular artists, Stan has sold over 170,000 singles and close to 100,000 albums to date, collecting five New Zealand Music Awards along the way. 7 September, 8pm | $49 – $66.50* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Aerial Circus Spoken Word
MUSIC
Pick & Mix: Smart Sheep Award-winning children’s book Baa Baa Smart Sheep, a cheeky trickster’s tale featuring Little Baa Baa and Quirkey Turkey, will be told live by author Mark Sommerset with music and performance. 17 August, 10.30am | FREE Aotea Centre Storylines Free Family Day 2013 Come and see children’s authors, illustrators, performers and storytellers in action. Create your own book, enter competitions and watch New Zealand stories leap off the page. 18 August, 10am – 3pm | FREE Aotea Centre Pick & Mix: Digital Puppetry These stories take place in a world of shapes, masks and characters to be realised through Digital Puppets, comically brought to life by two performers and projected on the screen. 24 August, 10.30am | FREE Aotea Centre
The Global Citizen Concert A unique evening of powerful performances to awaken active citizenship around the issues of extreme poverty and climate change. 4 August, 7pm | $40 – $180* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Digital Art Live: Work which loses value upon being viewed by Luke Munn How do we measure the value of art? Using face-tracking algorithms to detect viewers; the more the work is looked upon, the less valuable it becomes! 5 – 18 August | FREE Aotea Centre Digital Art Live: Rain by Seung Yul Oh in association with Jeffrey Nusz
Rain is a playful, chaotic interactive artwork which invites users to germinate an unpredictable kaleidoscope of objects, images, and sounds. 26 August – 20 October | FREE Aotea Centre Rainbow China Art Exhibition To celebrate Moon Festival and the 64th China National Day, 80 masterpieces of art, created by well-known Chinese painting artists, and calligraphies will be exhibited and presented by Rainbow China Culture and Media Group of New Zealand. It brings the true spirit of Chinese arts for people to enjoy and appreciate. 16 – 21 September | FREE Level 5, BNZ foyer, Aotea Centre
2013 NZ International Film Festival Since 1969 the International Film Festival has been a cultural highlight of the Auckland winter, presenting premiere screenings of the latest and best of features, shorts, documentaries and animated films from around the world. 18 July – 4 August | www.nziff.co.nz The Civic
Disclosure In just 12 months, Disclosure have created huge tremors in the music world and are one of the most successful dance acts in a generation. Do not miss this chance to witness the founders of this new generation of intelligent dance producers. 27 September, 8pm | $65* tm Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
DANCE The Vodafone Season of Swan Lake The Royal New Zealand Ballet presents The Vodafone season of Swan Lake, the greatest of classical ballets and a perfect synthesis of music and dance. 21 – 25 August, various times | $25 – $98*, The Civic
COMEDY CLASSICAL
The New Zealand Choral Federation: The Kids Sing Showcasing individual Auckland primary and intermediate school choirs, each performing their selected repertoire which includes a test piece and a New Zealand piece. 21 & 22 August, various times, Gala Concert 22 August 6.30pm | $10 – $17* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
BOOKING INFORMATION
box office
Michael Winslow – The Man With 10,000 Voices An accomplished comedian, Winslow’s captivating comedy show is a mix of impersonations, impressions, storytelling, and music using his staggering arsenal of vocal sound effects. 12 August, 8pm | $69.90* ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
Level 3, Aotea Centre
APO: Demidenko Plays Rachmaninov Superstar Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko returns to Auckland for the seventh concert in The New Zealand Herald Premier Series, to perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2. 1 August, 8pm | $26 – $122* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Monday to Friday 9am – 5.30pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am – 4pm
tickets for ALL events sold by the edge and ticketmaster can be purchased at the aotea centre BOX OFFICE
THE EDGE Book online: Phone: Group booking line: Customer service line:
EXHIBITION
FESTIVAL
Stan Walker
Pick & Mix: Hip Hop Clowning Elements of hip hop, theatre, clowning and character development combine to provide a highly entertaining and interactive performance brought to you by a collaboration of performance artists. 10 August, 10.30am | FREE Aotea Centre
James Blake With Overgrown, the classically trained pianist/ post-dubstep auteur, James Blake, surpasses all expectation. 2 August, 8pm | $65* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
James Blake
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TICKETMASTER www.buytickets.co.nz 0800 BUY TICKETS (0800 289 842) or 09 357 3355 09 357 3354 or email groups@the-edge.co.nz 09 357 3353
Book online: Phone:
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www.ticketmaster.co.nz 0800 111 999 or 09 970 9700
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live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
August – September 2013 APO: Voices of Youth The APO presents the world premiere of Ross Harris’s Symphony No.5, under the baton of Eckehard Stier. Part of The New Zealand Herald Premier Series. 15 August, 8pm | $26 – $122* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Viva Voce presents: Love, love, love A look at the sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter world of love: from madrigals and part songs to contemporary European, American and Kiwi compositions. 8 September, 5pm | $10 – $45* Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall
CMNZ: BEETHOVEN reCYCLE – Part Two Michael Houstoun’s year-long concert series of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas continues in this concert including the famous Appassionata sonata. 26 August, 8pm (free pre-concert talk 7pm) $10 – $65* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
APO: Mozart Requiem Classical and baroque specialist Bernard Labadie leads the APO and Voices New Zealand in a performance of Mozart’s much-loved choral work. 12 September, 8pm | $26 – $122* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
The Art of Fugue Indra Hughes presents Bach’s final masterwork on the Auckland Town Hall Organ. Preceded by an illustrated talk on the controversial unfinished final bars; prepare to be fascinated and enthralled. Friday 30 August, 7.30pm | $10 and $25* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall NZSO National Youth Orchestra 2013 New Zealand’s finest young musicians are conducted by Richard Gill for Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5. Acclaimed British pianist Lara Melda plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3. 31 August, 7.30pm | $15 – $30* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
APO: Joie de Vivre Amy Dickson joins the APO to perform Pierre Dubois’s saxophone concerto in a dazzling showpiece of instrumental virtuosity. Part of The New Zealand Herald Premier Series. 19 September, 8pm | $26 – $122* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Concert for Organ and Trumpet Trumpeter Bill Stoneham joins Timothy Noon for organ and trumpet treats in this programme where the beauty of brass is featured alongside solo organ music. 22 September, 2pm | FREE Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall APO: Unwrap Haydn’s ‘Surprise’ Symphony Presenter Graham Abbott and the APO explore why the ‘Surprise’ Symphony can still evoke laughter, joy and the occasional shock, 222 years after its first performance. 25 September, 6.30pm | $15 – $25* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
THEATRE Silo: SPEAKING IN TONGUES Intimacy. Trust. Love. Desire. Betrayal. Thrilling and contemporary storytelling at its very best.
From the writer of When The Rain Stops Falling, Andrew Bovell. 15 August – 14 September, various times $25 – $49* Herald Theatre
Keep in touch
WICKED: The Broadway Musical WICKED is coming to Auckland! This international blockbuster will open at The Civic for a strictly limited season. From 17 September | $54.90 – $199.90* The Civic
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MORE TEDX AUCKLAND 2013 TEDx is mainly about two things - ideas and inspiration: TEDxAuckland is focused on bringing together the best talent to inspire attendees with tales of innovation, success and passion. 3 August, 10am | $70 – $90* ASB Theatre STOMP ’13 – BACK… AND BETTER THAN EVER! International sensation STOMP is back following an acclaimed performance at the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. STOMP returns to Auckland with new routines, new choreography and new music. 6 – 11 August, various times | $59 – $109* ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
How far would you go to feel something?
Joie De Vivre
Michael Houstoun
New Zealand POPS Orchestra: Spring POPS More great hits from New Zealand’s exciting new orchestra with Rita Paczian, Will Martin, Gina Sanders, brilliant young saxophonist Ben Lerner, Vox Pops and NZPO Youth Choir. 15 September, 5pm | $10 – $65* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
DREAM OF GERONTIUS Auckland Choral presents Elgar’s choral masterpiece with Brisbane Chorale, The University of Auckland Chamber Choir and the APO. Soloists Helen Medlyn, David Hamilton and Martin Snell. Conductor Uwe Grodd. 21 September, 7.30pm | $10 – $89* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Dream of Gerontius
APO: My Country In the final concert of the Bayleys Great Classics Series, the APO celebrates composers who helped define the musical character of their country. ˇ Featuring works by Chopin and Dvorák. 5 September, 8pm | $26 – $122* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Viva Voce: Love, Love, Love
APO: The Rake’s Progress The APO presents a concert performance of Stravinsky’s only full-length opera. Prepare for a witty, emotional and thoroughly entertaining experience, starring Paul Whelan. 9 August, 7.30pm | $38 – $139* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
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67th India Independence Day Celebrations Bhartiya Samaj is celebrating the 67th India Independence Day with a cultural parade and a plethora of cultural performances reflecting the vibrant flavours of South Asia. The event is open for all. 18 August, 10.30am | FREE The Civic Grizzlies, Piranhas, and ManEating Pigs: On Assignment with Joel Sartore Discover what it’s like to be on assignment with National Geographic, as intrepid explorer Joel Sartore adventures to some of the world’s most beautiful and challenging environments and lives to tell the tale. 23 August, 6.30pm | from $29* Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall Rising Voices Youth Poetry Slam Rising Voices Youth Poetry Slam is a battle of words through the sharing of stories from 12 spoken word poets from Auckland and Christchurch, aged 16 – 24 years. 14 September, 7pm | $15 – $20* tm Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall. Miss IndiaNZ 2013 It’s got glitz and glamour. It’s got Bollywood panache and a dash of controversy. Miss IndiaNZ is a stage extravaganza not to be missed. 14 September, 7.30pm | $25 – $50* tm Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall Moon Festival and China National Day Concert Join the most famous Chinese singers and comedians, and enjoy well-known Chinese classical songs. Share a big laugh with comedy performances to celebrate Moon Festival and the 64th establishment of the People’s Republic of China. 15 September, 7pm | $20 – $50* tm ASB Theatre
*Service/booking fees will be applied when purchasing tickets. All sales are final and there are no refunds or exchanges, except as required by law. Ticket prices include GST. Every effort has been taken to ensure details in LIVE are accurate at time of publication but may be subject to change. Individual companies reserve the right to add, withdraw or substitute artists or vary programmes should the need arise. THE EDGE takes no responsibility for any incorrect event information in this publication.
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A mod ern c lassic Complicated, intricate and incredibly theatrical, Speaking in Tongues sees Silo returning to the works of Australian playwright Andrew Bovell. When the Rain Stops Falling was performed by the company in 2010 to rave reviews. Directed by Shane Bosher, Tongues stars Stephen Lovatt, Oliver Driver and Alison Bruce. Completing the cast is Luanne Gordon, soon to be on our screens as part of Gaylene Preston’s mini-series about the Christchurch earthquakes, Hope and Wire. By José Barbosa.
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hen LIVE speaks to Luanne Gordon over the phone, there’s still about three weeks to go before rehearsals begin for Silo’s latest production. She’s read the script only once, but the actor’s cogs are already starting to turn in anticipation of what will be a good meaty role. “The cues for this piece are going to be quite a challenge. As it reads, you’ve got two scenes taking place at the same time between two couples and the dialogue is all overlapping. It’s very poetic.” She’s talking about Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell. Since it was first staged in 1996 it, and its film adaptation Lantana, have won numerous awards and earned the right to be regarded as a classic of Australian theatre. It begins with two couples: four characters, all weighing up the possibility of cheating on their partner, speaking and repeating the lines sometimes at the same time. Bovell himself once remarked that the play was a challenge for actors because “... they are being asked to sacrifice a certain degree of character nuance in order for the whole picture to work”. Although the rest of the play, a dark thriller about human relationships, uses conventional dialogue, the opener alone might be enough to have an actor biting his or her nails. And if that’s not enough, the four actors are called upon in the script to service two roles each.
Luanne doesn’t sound anxious; rather, it sounds like she’s sorting it out in her head. She’s already thinking about how she’s going to approach it. “We have to get our cues right on. It’s actually difficult to learn the lines because it’s like you’re learning two characters at the same time. It feels like a dance of words.” In that respect, Silo has almost certainly found the right person. She’s probably best known as Melissa, the corporate lawyer turned male-strip-club boss from television’s The Strip which ran for two seasons in the early 2000s. The writer for the series, Chris Ellis, once enthused about his lead: “We’ve yet to write a line that she stuffs up – in terms of understanding her character’s motivation for saying whatever it is she’s saying.” She’ll have plenty to work with in Speaking in Tongues. She says actors like playing characters who are very human and complex. “The play seems to be, on first read, a lot about communication and miscommunication and how all these characters are interacting with each other. I feel like they’re trying to understand where they are at the moment and how they got there.” She’s looking forward to starting and seeing what Shane Bosher is cooking up. Both were at Toi Whakaari together and she’s looking forward to finally being directed by him. It’ll also be a return to Silo; her
last appearance for the company was in 2006. There is so much to look forward to, but she’s really chomping at the bit to start rehearsals. “I think I’ve realised that getting on the floor with other actors makes it so much easier to learn your lines; there’s a kind of muscle memory thing going on too where if your body is moving you remember in that moment as well. It just sort of seeps in.” Speaking in Tongues looks like it might do the same to its audiences; stripped of any
cultural identifiers, the characters become universal. “It’s a deeply sad play. I think it’s very relatable. Any adult who’s been in a relationship should and would be able to understand these characters.”
SPEAKING IN TONGUES 15 August – 14 September Herald Theatre
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Joan BAEZ
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An extraordinary life Joan Baez has been dubbed the Queen of Folk. She once described herself as a human being, a pacifist, a folk singer – in that order. We look back on some of the major milestones in her life and career ahead of her concert at The Civic.
1970s In 1972, Joan visited Hanoi as a guest of the North Vietnamese to deliver mail to American prisoners of war and was caught up in what became known as the ‘Christmas bombing’, an experience which affected her deeply for many years. The following year she released Where Are You Now, My Son, featuring taped segments from the trip to Vietnam. In 1975, iconic album Diamonds & Rust was released and Joan performed at The War Is Over rally in New York’s Central Park.
1980s Joan received two honorary doctorates for her activism and the ‘universality of her music’. She also received the Jefferson Award presented by the American Institute for Public Service. She continued to tour and demonstrate internationally.
1990s In an effort to draw attention to the suffering there, Joan visited war-torn Bosnia in 1993, becoming the first major artist to perform since the outbreak of war. The same year she was the first major artist to perform at Alcatraz Island in a benefit concert. In 1996, Joan received a second San Francisco Bay Area Music Award (BAMMY) for Outstanding Female Vocalist.
2000s Joan was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the very first BBC2 Folk Awards. In 2007, she was presented with the same award at the Grammys. Joan performed for Nelson Mandela at his 90th birthday concert in London’s Hyde Park in 2008. The concert was part of the 46664 concert series to promote awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Joan stood centre stage behind Mandela when he came on to make a short speech – to great applause.
Now 1940s
1960s
Joan Chandos Baéz was born on Staten Island, New York, on 9 January 1941, the middle daughter of three in a close‑knit family.
The golden age of folk began in the early sixties, with Joan right at the centre. She appeared on the cover of the 23 November issue of Time magazine. The cover story said “A hootenanny is to folk singing what a jam session is to jazz and all over the U.S. there is a great reverberating twang.”
Her parents were Quakers and instilled values of nonviolence and independence of thought.
1950s Even as a teenager, Joan was interested in social justice and activism, making the local newspaper for refusing to leave the classroom for an air raid drill. She first heard Martin Luther King speak in 1956 about non-violence, civil rights and social change; his message brought tears to her eyes. “I always cried when I heard him speak – he was so moving and so real.” Joan began her famed residency at Club 47 in Harvard Square, Cambridge, in 1958. The club was a jazz hang-out and the young university student was said to have confused the crowd with a medley that included music by the Carter Family. She coerced the management into a second performance and packed the venue, and her regular Sunday afternoon gig was born, as was the Cambridge folk revival.
Joan continued her civil rights work, singing and taking an active part in protests. In August 1963, Joan performed Oh Freedom to start the proceedings of the day in Washington, DC before Dr King made the famous I have a dream speech. In 1963, she started to collaborate with a young Bob Dylan and is credited with introducing him to the world. While that professional and personal partnership didn’t last more than a couple of years, the legacy continues as he inspired Joan to sing protest songs, rather than the traditional folk tunes with which she’d started. Between them they inspired a new generation of folk musicians and protesters. Both performed at Woodstock with Joan closing the first day of the festival. In 1968, Joan married David Harris, a leader in the anti-war movement – Time called it the wedding of the century, but David spent much of their marriage in prison for resisting the Vietnam draft. Son Gabriel was born in December 1969.
Joan continues to tour the globe, often joined by son Gabriel Harris who plays percussion.
WIN LIVE has three copies of the Joan Baez documentary How Sweet the Sound to give away. To enter, visit www.the-edge.co.nz/ comps
JOAN BAEZ QUEEN OF FOLK 29 August | The Civic
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live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
The love of books The 20th birthday of Storylines Festival will culminate at the Aotea Centre on 18 August with a massive celebration of children’s literature at Storylines Free Family Day. Josie Campbell caught up with Isaac Drought ahead of the launch of his first book Alphabet Squabble.
As a young reader, Isaac’s favourite books included Shirley Hughes’ Dogger, which he describes as “a bit cheesy and corny but predictably reassuring at the end” and admits that he enjoyed books that were a bit strange like John Vernon Lord’s The Giant Jam Sandwich (“it was so good because it was such a far-out idea”) and Philippe Fix’s The House That Beebo Built. “The joy of kids’ books is that, without knowing it, they learn to read; they learn to love to read and learn that reading is about looking for deeper meaning. “Words are not just words – you always look beneath the surface for deeper features. The secret is to get kids reading and, from reading, comes other skills.”
Alphabet Squabble is aimed at three to seven-year-olds and will be launched at Storylines after Isaac received the Joy Cowley Award last year. As the winning author, Isaac received editorial direction from Storylines Patron Joy Cowley and a publication offer from Scholastic, who will release and market Alphabet Squabble. Isaac says winning the award and receiving Joy’s mentorship and advice allowed him to go through the process [of readying his first book for publication] in quite a tame way. “What she did, the changes she made, were incredible. She was very honest and kind in her advice.” The Storylines crowd will be among the first to see the completed book. Isaac has received advance copies but, other than to his family, he has shown the book only to a couple of classes when he was relief teaching – without disclosing that he was the author. He says that the feedback was that the book was great and the children were keen to try drawing Jenny Cooper’s artwork. More
importantly, it was clear they understood the book’s deeper message. “They were very quick to pick up that it was about discrimination, so you discuss those issues. Why do you make fun of certain kids? Is it because they have different clothes to you?” The launch of Alphabet Squabble is just one highlight of Storylines day, with something different scheduled every half hour from 10am until 3pm across all five levels of the Aotea Centre. International guests John Farrell (USA) and Rachel Spratt (Australia) will attend, along with 25 New Zealand writers, illustrators and storytellers. Dame Lynley Dodd will be there to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Hairy Maclary and there will be a performance of Scarface Claw by Campbells Bay School. Owairaka District School will perform The Waka, attended by co-author Gavin Bishop. There will be many chances for children to join in the fun, including dressing up as their favourite book character for the chance to win a spot prize.
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STORYLINES FAMILY DAY 18 August Aotea Centre
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Illustration: Greg Straight
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saac’s love of reading and books began at an early age, influenced by his mum’s job as a librarian. He’d head to the library after school and spend hours reading. “I was always immersed in books,” he remembers.
live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
A CLOWN ABROAD On the line from London, Trygve Wakenshaw has just arrived back from a week of “hugging rocks”, sleeping in a yurt and quite literally clowning around, after taking a workshop with recent New Zealand visitor and acclaimed clown Dr. Brown. By Bronwyn Bent.
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t’s all part of the regular schedule of performing as a “clown idiot thing”; this is the description Trygve gives to his own style of high-energy, thoughtful and highly skilled physical comedy. Trygve is one of the founders of Theatre Beating, which specialises in, as fellow company member and director Geoff Pinfield explains, “either family shows of anarchic mayhem for kids, or late-night weird shows for drunken adults, which amounts to the same thing in many ways.” Their first work for families, The Magic Chicken, was a national hit and, whilst that show continues touring internationally, the company has been busy making its next family work, the mysteriously titled homage to 1950s' sci-fi B movies The Thing From The Place. For the premiere, Trygve will return from his current base in London, where he’s been off-andon since completing clowning study at the renowned École Philippe Gaulier in Paris in 2010. “I went back to New Zealand for six months last year and I’ve just done four months there; I’ll be back again for three months and so, for a while, I was saying I was based in London, but now I’m really confused. I’m really based in London and New Zealand.”
“What we do is effectively live action cartooning: very rich physical comedy in this tradition of these people who are made of rubber; they can bounce off walls and fall from great heights...“
In London, Trygve is starting to make a name for himself with his solo work for adults, Squidboy. After a recent run at hip new venue The Yard, he’s about to take it to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for four weeks.
Edinburgh is notorious for seasons where the cast outnumbers the audience and, as a fringe festival veteran, Trygve knows what’s he’s in for. “It will be really good for me just in terms of getting some contacts here in the UK. I’ve started getting there; there’s quite a few cabaret nights I can put my name down at and go and perform, but I’m still kind of newish to the scene and it’s huge, so I think it will be good just to start getting a little bit of a reputation over here. I’ve done Squidboy so much, but there are still bits I want to keep playing with and exploring, so doing a month-long run is a really cool opportunity to keep trying little bits, to take it from being a really good show to being a mind-blowing, incredible show.” Shortly after this run, Trygve returns to New Zealand to work on The Thing From The Place, which will feature the knockabout comedy that Trygve and fellow Theatre Beating founder Barnie Duncan are well known for. As Geoff describes it: “What we do is effectively live action cartooning: very rich physical comedy in this tradition of these people who are made of rubber; they can bounce off walls and fall from great heights, and have animals drop on their heads and spring back up the next moment. It’s nice to be able to do that live on stage without any drawn-in trickery.” It’s a style of clowning that might be a surprise to those who think of clowns only as having red noses and big shoes but, as Trygve explains, the clown is more akin to the fool, jester character: “It’s really hard to just say clown, because people get this idea of what a clown is in their heads, when it’s really just an idiot... I’d love to do some more actual ’acting’, but I’m so happy on this little road of being a clown idiot thing.” It’s a style of performance that Theatre Beating happily makes its own and one that will be to the fore in the new show, of which Trygve happily declares: “I think it will be really great!”
THE THING FROM THE PLACE 7 – 12 October Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall
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live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
Next
BIG Thing The Flying Dutchman 5 – 12 October New Zealand Opera returns to the ASB Theatre following an extraordinarily successful season of Madame Butterfly with Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. This co-production with Opera Queensland features Welsh baritone Jason Howard, Christchurch-born bass Paul Whelan and Irish soprano Orla Boylan.
SKY DANCER 8 November Capital E National Theatre for Children and the NZSO collaborate to turn the story inspired by Witi Ihimaera’s novel into an epic performance involving orchestra music, puppets, projections and performers.
OLLY MURS 7 November
Charley Pride
He was nominated for two Brit Awards this year and his single Troublemaker sold more than two million copies around the globe. Now Olly Murs is bringing the music from his double-platinum third album Right Place Right Time to Auckland Town Hall.
23 November Many musicians are called legends, but with 39 #1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, Charley Pride is truly deserving of the title. The two time Grammy Award winner is heading back down under to remind fans why he is the Pride of Country Music.
Fobulous Ten Tenors 26 & 27 October The Ten Tenors have created Mum’s the Word – featuring the most requested songs they’ve performed, and the most requested songs they haven’t performed. The show is all about saying thanks to mums – ‘unsung heroines’.
Enjoy breakfast or afternoon tea at one of Auckland’s favourite heritage buildings.
2 November Hilarious comic duo The Laughing Samoans are heading back to Auckland after taking their 10th anniversary show on tour across New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Maggie g errand presents
t He legenD R e t u Rns foR H e R f i R st ne W Z ealanD tou R i n m oR e t Ha n 2 0 Y e a R s
“Baez remains a true icon of the music world – a powerful, tender and strident performance” te l e g R a p H ( u k ) 2 01 2
special guest
Kate Fagan
tHuRsDaY 29 august the civic tHe eDge bookings 09 357 3355 / buytickets.co.nz
live / AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2013
AUCKLAND
Takapuna Bruce Mason Centre 17–18 August Ticketmaster.co.nz
Auckland City The CIVIC With the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
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21–25 August Buytickets.co.nz
nzballet.org.nz
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