Producer's Notes

The beginning

Just ten men sowed the seeds of the society’s foundation at a meeting on the afternoon of Tuesday 12 February 1918. There was a shortage of musical theatre in town and returning NZ service men had experienced some of the popular shows in London. A publicly advertised meeting attracted 60 people to the council chambers and Blenheim Amateur Operatic Society was formed.

Now Blenheim Musical Theatre, the second oldest musical theatre society in New Zealand is proud to have brought so much musical pleasure to the Marlborough Community over very nearly 100 years. With their own milestone centenary fast approaching, the society looks forward to continuing to produce fantastic musicals for another hundred years.

^{My Fair Lady - Ascot}

The theatre

Now that Blenheim has a modern fully equipped theatre, it is able to show to best effect the largest and most complex stage productions New Zealand has to offer - The Royal New Zealand Ballet, the national and regional orchestras, major touring shows - and big musicals. The staging of a large musical can involve the energy and abilities of over 100 people. Those you see on stage are just the start, and they require the support of an orchestra, production management, stage management, fly-crew, a wardrobe department, a make-up team,  booth singers, electricians, and lighting and sound technicians. In addition the theatre will provide ushers, the ticket box, hospitality staff, and its own management team.

So having the facilities and equipment of a modern theatre available allows a major improvement to be made in the quality of presentation of a large musical. And this improvement was fully on display in the BMT production of Mamma Mia! 

BMT has joined the New Zealand Consortium of Musical Theatre in order to share the costs, sets, and wardrobe of the large musicals it can now contemplate staging in the ASB Theatre. The first 'Consortium' musical staged by BMT has been Mamma Mia, and if you have seen that brilliant show you will already have seen the improvements which are made possible in our new theatre.

^{The diary scene from Mamma Mia}

The future   

BMT is now able to operate at a new level in the ASB Theatre, and you can look forward to more  outstanding musicals. In 2018 the society will present another 'Consortium' show - the Cameron Mackintosh/Walt Disney musical Mary Poppins.  I was lucky enough to see the Court Theatre production of Mary last year - and it was stunning! Roll on 2018.

And in 2017? Work on the selection of a 2017 musical has commenced, has been paused during the run of Mamma Mia. Work on this decision will resume at the conclusion of the run. The Society is considering another major production, but will not make a final decision until later this month

So watch this space. As soon a decision has been made and can be made public - you will know!

Robin Sutherland