Schools' wealth of talent - June 2016
Last Monday Marie and I watched Whanganui High School's performing arts production Live at the Opera House, then, on Saturday, we followed it up with the final night of Rise, a musical presented by Whanganui Girls' College.
Wow! Both were stunning displays of young talent.
Live at the Opera House, with a backdrop similar to Live at the Apollo, set the stage for variety, from Kapa Haka to stand-up comedian Sam Taylor. It was top notch entertainment with scarcely a pause until intermission, a showcase of skill, dedication and hours of practice.
Kapa Haka got the pulses racing; Grace Jones and Te Paerata (TP) Tichbon (Heads of Culture) gave us music and grace (pun intended); a scene from Shakespeare'sHenry V - in the French King's palace - made us laugh and impressed us greatly (it was all in French); Pasifika was a joy to watch and hear; Cell Block Tango (fromChicago) was incredible; Chamber Music highlighted the musical skills of many. We were also treated to the finals of Whanganui High School's Got Talent, in which finalists Millie Manning and TP Tichbon competed against each other in two very different disciplines - Millie in gymnastics floor exercises and TP with guitar and microphone. A stunning battle, after which, during half-time, we were asked to vote via text, but before we did, we saw dancers from Years 12 and 13 in a stunning display of elegance and beauty.
So many of those gifted young people take classes outside school, augmenting their curricular activities with hours of extra learning.
After half-time the programme started with theatre sports, an ad-libbed situational sequence fired by occasional references to random writings strewn about the stage.
Very clever and funny too!
The rest of Act 2 was a mix of music, drama and dance as musicians filled the stage, thespians turned to Shakespeare, this time, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and dancers from Year 13 performed beyond their years.
The night ended with the school's Stage Challenge entry, a dance spectacle centred on the Pike River Mine tragedy, but before that the WHS's Got Talent winner was announced - Millie Manning.
Throughout the show we saw a number of students perform in more than one of the performing arts, impressing us with their all-round skills and their dedication to practice. To sing and dance and act, all at a high level, must bode well for their future, if only for the fact that they could harness the discipline.
Whanganui Girls College's production of Rise, a musical written and directed by drama teacher Paul Collins, displayed the talents and skills of 71 students. It was about Chloe, the daughter of Education Minister "Pariata Hekia" who, rather than follow her mother's academic hopes for her, enrolled at Waiawa College for the Performing Arts. What follows is the ministry's attempt to close the college - and Chloe's belief that it's to prevent her following her dream - and the college's variety concert designed to change the outcome of the ministerial decree.
Rise has assembled a very good cast for its Waiawa staff and students and showcased their considerable talents in the variety show.
Music, modern dance, Kapa Haka, theatre, ballet, hip hop - it was all to a high standard.
The play began with the funeral for Chloe's opera singer father, complete with bagpipes, beautifully played by Jorja Plane, after which Chloe (Kira Fields) and her mother (Amiria Ririnui) argue over schooling.
The story hums along with occasional scenes at the ministry and plenty at Waiawa. The orchestra pit was always busy with talented musicians and the stage, with its minimal sets, seemed permanently in a state of flux, dashing from one scene to the next with a simple, cunning rotation of two pillars and a few bits and pieces. The stage hands did a good job and we were never left wondering what was going on. The cast had a certain amount of freedom with such an uncluttered stage.
The cast is too big to critique by name, suffice it to say that Whanganui Girls' College has more than its fair share of talented young women. Singers, dancers, musicians, actors - and it all seemed to run smoothly.
The show ended with a grand finale, Rise, a song written by Musical Director Rosie James and performed by the entire cast.
The choreographers, both staff and students, are to be congratulated with so many visually beautiful dance routines in a number of styles. Flashlight, choreographed by Nita Pond and performed by the "Ballet Class" impressed us all with its visuals, but every dance was superb.
And if ever there was a memorable version of the Little Red Riding Hood story, In Da Hood was it. The wolf never stood a chance.
Congratulations to Paul, cast and crew.
('Front Bit' with Paul Brooks - Wanganui Midweek)