December 2016 In this month’s Spotlight From the President’s Point of View ......................................................................................... 2 MTNZ Office Closure Info and 2017 Calendar ......................................................................... 4 Christmas Greetings from our sponsors ................................................................................. 5 57th National Conference, AGM and Volunteer Training Weekend info ................................ 9 The MTNZ Annual Awards – Merit, Patron, Programme – all you need to know ............... 15 Zone Two new with Ngaire Holmes – Thames announce Beauty and the Beast ............. 17 Zone Three news – Sharron Pardoe ...................................................................................... 18 Farewell to the wonderful Colin Denby ............................................................................... 20 St Mark’s and Ngati Toa School making a Junior Theatre splash and jungle .................... 21 Choreographed needed for Hairspray JR. ............................................................................. 23 CCMT announce their 2017 Emerging Talent School .......................................................... 24 Associate members Auckland Theatre Company – Billy Elliot extends season ............... 25 Invercargill MT stage Wizard of Oz and farewell Miles Hewton .......................................... 27 Musical Theatre Oamaru seeking expressions of interest for a director for Mamma Mia 27 News from Selecon, The Light Site and Showtechnix ................................................. 29 - 31 News from the copyright holders featuring this month – Hal Leonard and Origin Theatrical, Devon Williamson and David Spicer ........................................................... 32 - 41 Next edition of Spotlight will be early February 2017 1 From the President’s View Point Welcome everyone to my last message of 2016. The above quote says absolutely everything that I feel about the past year as your President; it has been a real privilege and a pleasure. As I look at my message to you this time last year, I’d just like to tell you that I am no more organised than I was then, I have not learnt a thing! I see the tree was up last year at this time, not really so this year, because this year Philip and I are not spending Christmas in Napier, but off to Wellington to spend the time with my daughter and family in Petone. I am so looking forward to it, I do hope the weather stays kind, but in the end, does it really matter, as long as we have family and friends around us at special times, the weather is irrelevant. The end of October and month of November have been really busy for me, and I’ve loved every bit of it, but I think that Philip will be pleased to have me home now until Conference in New Plymouth in March. Travel wise, not quite so much in the past month or so, but had the privilege of attending Ngati Toa School’s production of “The Disney Book”. For those who don’t know- Ngati Toa s a small school nested in the heart of Titahi Bay in Porirua, Wellington.Ngati Toa School were given a helping hand from Music Theatre International (Australasia) along with the Amici Trust, and were the proud recipients of a free school production package. MTI (Australasia) rolled out their “A Helping Hand: Free Musical Giveaway” for the first time in New Zealand, and Wellington was selected as the first region to receive this amazing offer. Ngati Toa School is one of many schools without a full-time arts program who were eligible to apply, and were successfully selected. This opportunity saw them provided with a free Broadway Junior™ Showkit™, which included such resources as a full director's guide, piano score, full professionally recorded music backing tracks, student scripts, a production manual: in short, everything Ngati Toa School would need to successfully stage a musical theatre production. The following passage comes from the School’s newsletter, I’m sure Kaye won’t mind me using it! Kia ora whanau, The school is in full rehearsal mode with the songs of The Jungle Book, kapahaka and others resounding around the school. It is fantastic to see the enthusiasm that this kind of event engenders in the children and staff. We have not dragged out the lead-up to the concert so it is full-on this week and next to ensure you get a quality performance. Normal classroom programmes are put on the back-burner as we plunge into the show, and we believe this change of pace and focus for a short time has a positive impact, as children (and grown-ups!) learn about being flexible, committed and involved in a project together as a school. We are excited to be bringing you our concert in the coming And this was certainly the attitude that Kate, Sharron and I witnessed on the night, and we were so grateful to have been invited to such a special night. My congratulations go to Cheryl Moeau, stalwart of Porirua Little Theatre, who teaches at the school, who was the Director of the Production. The morning after the Production, Kate, Sharron and I boarded the plane to Hamilton to meet up with the rest of the team, for our final Executive meeting for the year. Once again it was great to spend a few hours on business, before having a relaxed evening Next day was a full on day at the board table, before a light meal, and then it was off to the “Rocky Horror Show”. Superbly Directed by David Sidwell, this show would have to be probably the most outstanding local production I have seen in a long time. 2 Superb cast (including our NextGen Gwen and associate member Russell Dixon in fishnets) and orchestra, great set and lighting, I do not have enough superlatives to describe this production, congratulations to everyone that was involved. Special thanks to Fiona and the Board of Hamilton Operatic and Jason Wade for their hospitality. At our Executive meeting, preliminary arrangements were made for the second “Next Gen Boot Camp” which will take place in Zone 2, later in 2017. The initial Boot Camp was highly successful; Next Genners will need to be quick for this one! GM Kate reported on her visit to New Plymouth, arrangements are all in place for Conference 2017, details to be found elsewhere in this newsletter. I look forward to catching up with you all at Conference, I do hope you are getting your registrations in, I’m told the online process is making life much easier for societies, and of course, don’t forget your programmes and posters need to be sent to Kate sooner rather than later, you don’t want to miss out. Also remember those wonderful people in your society that are deserving of our awards, please check the categories out in the conference information elsewhere in this publication, and get your nominations in. Finally, the old perennial – please submit your figures for our surveys - we do need them all! Home and back to Napier Operatic, where as well as the Treasurer’s duties, I have been the Production Secretary for the production of “Nunsense”, five fabulous ladies (or if you like Nuns), who I am looking forward to seeing this coming Friday. As we wind down towards Christmas, I have to tell you that come 2017, there will be some new faces around the Executive table. The wonderful Ngaire Holmes, who has been the Zone 2 representative since March 2009, will be standing down next March. Ngaire has been an outstanding representative to her Zone, and she will be sorely missed. I personally will miss Ngaire terribly, she has been a wonderful mentor to me, I have so valued her guidance and friendship. Further North in Zone 1, Pauline Vella has decided that she will not stand for re-election, Pauline has done great work in her three years at the helm, and we will miss her input and contribution around our table. “Next Gen” Gwen Lyon, has now completed two years as the Youth Representative, and will not stand for election in March. Gwen has been a special representative of our young people, and we wish her well as she continues on her Musical Theatre mission. Fondest regards to you and your families, have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and if you are travelling, travel safely - Lesley 3 MTNZ Office Closure – The MTNZ office will not be closed “officially” during the holiday season. However, I won’t be sitting in front of the computer on the stat days and will be down the West Coast for a bit of January but I will have the cellphone with me so still contactable and of course it’s a busy time of year for the MTNZ office with conference and end of year . On behalf of Lesley, Dan, Pauline, Ngaire, Sharron, Dame Donna, Ross, Helen, Gwen, Steve, Markham, Kevin, Len and our Life Members, we would like to wish you, your members and/or staff and families a happy and safe Christmas and New Year. And thanks to everyone for their support, especially our sponsors John Herber and NZ Fire-Shield, of MTNZ over the past 12 months and to all those corporates and education members who support us at conference time, we are extremely grateful, especially to our Gold Partners – The Light Site, BOUNCE NZ, Origin Theatrical, iTICKET and MTI Australia. Have a fab month and get those conference registrations in before 31 December. Have a cool Yule and safe holidays and all the best for 2017 and see you in New Plymouth in March - Cheers Kate MTNZ Calendar 2017 – note these dates in your diary now ….. Date Event 25 February OSTAs - Dunedin TBC NAPTAs - Auckland 24 – 25 March The 57th National Conference &Volunteer Training Weekend – New Plymouth 6 May Zone Three Meeting - Levin 20 May Zone Five Meeting – Balclutha (see Taieri’s Mary Poppins) 15/16 June Executive Meeting - Nelson 1 July Zone Four Meeting - Ashburton 1 July Zone Two Meeting – Morrinsville 4 – 5 July ETNZ Conference – Wellington August NextGen Boot Camp – Zone Two – details TBC 2 September ZONYs – Tauranga 28 October Zone Two Meeting – Rotorua 28 October Combined South Island Meeting – Oamaru 4 November Executive Meeting - Auckland December EVANZ Conference - Wellington 4 A Word from our Major Sponsor and Platinum Conference Partners John Herber Ltd & NZ Fire-Shield Ltd would like to thank all those societies who have supported us over the last year.