Miscellaneous
2019 President’s Report
Another great year has almost flown by and what an interesting one it has been. Three spectacular productions that brought over 25,000 patrons into the theatre at a time when Christchurch most needed some fabulous entertainment and escapism.
In the final quarter of the year, both Michael Bayly and Markham Lee resigned from their roles as General Manager and President, heralding in some new and exciting changes ahead of us!
I’m absolutely thrilled to have stepped up into the role of President, leading Showbiz into 2020 and beyond. We have a fantastic season ahead of us in 2020, packed with beautiful and brilliantly written music, including the groovin’ in your seat kind. I’m looking forward to working with you all, onstage and off, or seeing you in the audience.
2019 Shows
We Will Rock You
“With the stunning success of Showbiz Christchurch’s recent productions, it is no longer extraordinary to see three tiers of musical theatre fans rise to their feet in a standing ovation.”
Ruth Agnew, What’s Up Christchurch
Showbiz rocked the first part of the year with the NZ theatre company season of the Queen & Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You. The timing for this show couldn’t have been better, hot on the heels of the multi-award-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody.
Despite opening shortly after the tragic events of 15 March, and dealing with upgraded security measures at the theatre, the rock concert nature of the show drew a new audience of theatregoers who wouldn’t have otherwise come to see musical theatre. We were also able to offer First Responders from the Civil Defence, NZ Police and Medical Staff the opportunity to enjoy a night off and see the show.
The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber in Concert
“Showbiz Christchurch is bringing Broadway sizzle to Christchurch on a cold weekend.”
Kate Divett, Backstage Christchurch
The mid-year concert was a roaring success due to the creativity and commitment of the creative and production team, the talent of the performers, and the enormous popularity of Andrew Lloyd Webber. This was the first time in recent years that Showbiz has worked alongside the CSO which helped increase the reputation of the concert. It is a combination we will be working with again in 2020.
Miss Saigon
“Miss Saigon is one of the iconic shows of its generation and this production goes right to the heart of it..”
Patrick Shepherd, The Press
Ten years after our premiere, the creative team breathed new life into the beautiful yet tragic story of Miss Saigon.
It’s a show not without its challenges. Miss Saigon required a strong cast of Asian performers which allowed us to cast the net wider and engage more deeply with the local and international Asian communities. We even had reviewers and patrons come from Australia specially to see the show, such is its popularity amongst the Filipino community.
Miss Saigon also provided opportunities to tell the stories of those most connected with the show including our local Vietnamese community, NZ Vietnam Vets, and Hagar NZ who are involved in supporting the victims of human trafficking.
The principal cast and heads of departments hosted a backstage Touch Tour for audience members with visual impairments. This was organised by our Marketing Manager and Blind & Low Vision NZ (formally Blind Foundation). It was a huge success, audience members came specially for it, some from as far away as Blenheim. They were able to touch pieces of costume and props, walk on the set, and meet the cast before they attended a performance.
Miss Saigon may not have been the sell-out show we hoped for, but those who attended were not disappointed. Miss Saigon raised Showbiz’s standing as a world-class producer of musical theatre.
Show Companies – Cast, Crew and Production Teams
Showbiz has over the past years built up an astounding number of skilled volunteers and theatre practitioners in all areas of our productions. I want to specially acknowledge their work, particularly the teams of volunteers – there would be no shows for you to enjoy without them! We appreciate their time, skills and knowledge. The Showbiz Board and Management team look forward to having them involved in the 2020 season and beyond.
Showbiz Executive
Markham Lee, Past President
President
As mentioned earlier, Markham Lee resigned as Board President in October. Markham has been President on and off since 1990 but has been an active member since 1973. As President he has lead us to new heights with his drive, support and passion for theatre, putting in long hours and dedication. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Markham. I know that he will continue to be a supportive member, on and off the stage, with his family. His son, Matthew, has already appeared on stage in a Showbiz production.
General Manager

Michael Bayly, previous General Manager
Michael Bayly resigned in August as GM and moved into a new position with Cassels & Sons Brewing in September. Michael joined us in 2015 after Phantom and has worked hard to successfully raise the profile of Showbiz. His love for theatre, along with his passion and drive, saw us through some of our most successful seasons. We thank Michael, and we wish him all the best in his new role.
This brings me to the next piece of excellent news, the appointment of Paul Christ as our new General Manager. Paul has a wealth of international experience in the musical theatre industry having supervised, conducted and directed for Disney Theatrical Production, Cameron Mackintosh and Vienna State Opera. He comes to us from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra after completing his contract as Operations Manager. We are fortunate to have him leading the Management Team from 8th January 2020.

Paul Christ, General Manager
A recent article printed in the Star about these changes included this quote from Paul:
“Showbiz offers the perfect opportunity to draw on my professional musical theatre experience along with my work in the commercial and not for profit arts sectors. I am thrilled to join the Showbiz team and work alongside the Christchurch Operatic Inc. Board, to ensure the organisation continues to consistently produce shows to the highest international standards and offer opportunities for local performers, musicians and stage crew to engage in a passion for performing.
I am looking forward to not only growing the overall commercial performance and success of the organisation but building on Showbiz’s reputation as an industry leader and continuing to offer the community of Christchurch a world-class musical theatre experience.”
2020 Shows
My Fair Lady: 3-18 April
What an exciting line up for 2020 we have for you to participate in!
Opening on 3rd April is the beautiful classic My Fair Lady, with a strong cast in place and under the direction of the dynamic team of Stephen Robertson, Richard Marrett and Glen Harris.
A magnificent set designed by Harold Moot is currently under construction. The costumes, created initially by Stephen for another production, are being refurbished at Showbiz and will undoubtedly prove to be a hit.
When My Fair Lady was first performed in Christchurch in 1962, it set the record at the Theatre Royal, running for 171 performances to an audience of 200,000.
The 60th Anniversary of My Fair Lady was celebrated in 2016 with a production directed by Julie Andrews. A Broadway revival followed in 2018 and received a Tony Awards nomination, and won three awards for “Outstanding Revival of a Musical”.
We are delighted to bring a stunning new production of this “musical of all musicals” back to Christchurch in 2020.
Chess in Concert: 19-21 June
Written by ABBA songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with lyrics by Tim Rice, Chess in Concert brings all the intrigue, drama and romance of the musical together in concert with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra for a three performance season.
In a celebration of immerging new talent, we have appointed Jeremy Hinman who will make his Showbiz directorial debut. Ravil Atlas returns in the role of Musical Director. They will be supported by the same strong production team that brought to the stage the successful 2018 and 2019 concerts.
Buddy –The Buddy Holly Story: 11-26 September
It’s only been eight years since we staged Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story in the Aurora Centre at Burnside High School shortly after the earthquakes. We always thought this show was well worth a more significant season, so we are excited to be restaging it at Isaac Theatre Royal.
This hugely successful rock musical will have the audience out of their seats and grooving in the aisles.
We welcome Sarah Brodie back as Director and have Richard Marrett leading the band as he did in the 2012 season.
Way Off Broadway
This annual season of informal open mic concerts staged at the NASDA theatre continues to be well-loved by audiences for its intimate and supportive nature. It remains a popular way for Showbiz to support new talent to perform before a friendly audience, and for seasoned performers to try new material. Peter Hewson has taken over as MC from Michael Bayly, and the concerts continue to be one of the most delightful and inexpensive ways to sample a wide range of show music and new talent.
A huge thanks to NASDA for their contribution and on-going support for Way Off Broadway.
Vocal Studio
Led in 2019 by Kate Taylor, Vocal Studio continues as another vehicle for nurturing singing talent. We thank Kate for the time and music skills she brings to the classes. These are always well attended and we will be continuing them for 2020.
Future Shows
With our 2020 Season already underway, we also have begun exciting new plans for 2021 and beyond. The Board have been focusing on the Future Shows Programme for the next two years, and already have firm plans in place as well as concepts for the latter part of the programme. So watch this space!
As Showbiz does not receive any central government arts funding and relies heavily on ticket revenue to fund the production of our shows, we immensely value our partnership with core sponsor Saunders & Co who have agreed to continue as season sponsor for 2020.
Without the support of Saunders & Co, the ticket-buying public and funders like the Christchurch Musical Theatre Trust, Christchurch City Council and Mainland Foundation, Showbiz would not be in a position to offer world-class Broadway-style musical theatre to local audiences. We thank you wholeheartedly for your continued support.
In turn, it is essential Showbiz actively participates in supporting local musical theatre talent, and contributes to the development of a vibrant performing arts community, both locally and nationally.
In 2020 we will seek to grow our relationships with other arts-related organisations including:
- the Isaac Theatre Royal, Ticketek NZ, 4th Wall Theatre Services, The Light Site, Bounce NZ and Scenic Solutions who are cornerstone partners in delivering our 2020 season;
- NASDA and The Court Theatre, whose contribution to the NZ performing arts is unparalleled;
- Arts Access Aotearoa, so we may continue to work towards making our productions more accessible for all musical theatre-lovers.
Management Team

Johnny Morris, Production Manager

Sandi White, Administration Manager

Wendy Riley, Marketing Manager
I’ve been working in the Showbiz office most days since taking on the President’s role, and so I get to see the hard work and dedication that Wendy Riley (Marketing Manager), Sandi White (Admin Manager) and Johnny Morris (Production Manager) put into making our organisation work smoothly. Their knowledge has been a great support to me in this new role. Plus it’s also been a treat to work in an office and not standing behind a chair with scissors in hand (or a wig).
I must also acknowledge the excellent support of both Sue Beardsley and the Board. Sue has been in most days supporting me with preparing budgets and various other tasks, and the Board have been most supportive in their availability to handle the different tasks that need attention. A big thank you to everyone!
That wraps up another show-stopping year! On behalf of Showbiz Christchurch, I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Sarah Buchanan
President, Showbiz Christchurch
Flipping Fried Eggs
An Eventful Trip Around South Vietnam
From an interview with Aircraft Engineer, Corporal Colin Creighton, No. 41 Squadron, RNZAF

Class 6, RNZAF Cadet School, 28 Feb 1966. Colin Creighton second from right, back row. Source: Gary Danvers Collection, Flickr.
The New Zealand Government was a reluctant participant in the Vietnam War, and it chose not to commit its air combat squadrons to the conflict. Instead, individual RNZAF pilots were seconded to other air forces. Sixteen helicopter pilots served with the Royal Australian Air Force in South Vietnam and flew troops, supply and gunship missions in support of ground troops. Fourteen fixed-wing aircraft pilots served with the United States Air Force as forward air controllers. RNZAF personnel also contributed to a Combined Services Medical Team.
The RNZAF contributed No. 40 Squadron to airlift NZ troops into South Vietnam on Hercules transporters, and No.41 Squadron flying Bristol Freighters on re-supply missions from Singapore to New Zealand military units and medical teams in South Vietnam. [i]
41 Squadron flights to support the medical team at Qui Nhon and the New Zealand Embassy in Saigon continued after the withdrawal of New Zealand military forces in 1971. At the end of March 1975, a Bristol Freighter was sent from Singapore to Qui Nhon to airlift out the five-member volunteer medical team. The last No. 41 Squadron flight out of the country departed on 21 April carrying 38 embassy staff and refugees.[ii]
Mainlander Colin Creighton, was an aircraft engineer corporal based out of Singapore with No. 41 Squadron RNZAF from 1971 to 1973:
“From Singapore, we covered the entire Southeast Asian Basin looking after all the New Zealand interests in the area, including Vietnam. I was up there from 1971 until halfway through 1973 when I returned to New Zealand. The squadron stayed up there until 1978 before it came home, it’d been up there for a little over 30 years non-stop.”

View over the Mekong Delta/Miền Tây en route to Cần Thơ © Colin Creighton.
In 1971 41 Squadron transported five RNZAF helicopter pilots from Hobsonville to fly in Singapore to join the rotary-wing flight of No. 41 Transport Squadron. Three RNZAF Iroquois helicopters were also sent to Singapore in broken-down form by Hercules on September 25th and 26th. Colin was one of the ground crew who travelled with the pilots.[iii]
“Even back then Bristols were big ugly old things. Most of the helicopters could fly faster than we could. But they would get in and out of short strips and cart a five-tonne load, which is quite remarkable for their size and considering that they were built in 1945. They even took part in the Berlin airlift in the late 1940s. They are a well-proven old aircraft.
“I also knew the Iroquois very well, we had those on strength in Singapore. I spent a lot of time in the Malay jungle working with the helicopters up there on exercises, living in tents or in the jungle while you were fixing it.”

The Iroquois is one of the world’s most iconic helicopters, famous for its extensive role in the Vietnam War and distinctive ‘whock-whock’ sound. Source: Air Force Museum of New Zealand.
One of Colin’s ex RNZAF comrades, who served in Electrical/Avionics from January ‘67 to April ’87, recalled how one of his first jobs after completing his electrical/mechanics course in late 1968 was to “empty the bogger” of a Bristol after a Singapore to Whenuapai flight, “not a nice job”. “However, much more fun leaving one behind in Bangkok with Fuzz Freeman, Colin Creighton and Keith Reilly for a single man’s tour of Thailand in 1973.”[iv]
“40,000 Rivets Flying in Formation”
A typical 41 Squadron fortnightly resupply run was flight No. 5912 on 4th December 1972. The Bristol was loaded up at Tengah airbase in Singapore with supplies and crew, including two flight officers, a mechanical/aviation electronics operator, five service crew including one Flight Sergeant, two Corporals – one of which was Colin Creighton – and two ‘baggies’ or General Service Hands. The first stop was Butterworth in Malaya, then on to Saigon before they headed north to Qui Nhơn where the New Zealand Surgical Team was based. They returned to Saigon via the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) base at Nha Trang, then headed south to Cần Thơ where there was the US and ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) base. Their last leg was back over the South China Sea to Butterworth and finally back to base at Tengah. It was a three-day round trip. [v]
“I remember the Freighter as difficult aircraft to fly well … lacking pressurization, air conditioning, weather radar, retractable undercarriage or state of the art avionics. We cruised at 135 knots TAS, below 10,000 feet, sweating like pigs on the ground and freezing at cruise altitude.” wrote Flt Lt Peter Tremayne, who completed 28 flights with 41 Sqn RNZAF into or through Vietnam from 1965–1968 and 1975, and seven flights into Vietnam with 40 Sqn RNZAF from 1969–1971. The Bristol was often referred to as “40,000 rivets flying in formation”.

The crew of a B170 Bristol Freighter from 41 Squadron RNZAF talk with members of the New Zealand Surgical Team at Qui Nhon hospital. Image courtesy of Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
An Eventful Trip Around the Regions
“They [the Bristol] had three crew, and when we went on an away trip from Singapore we carried a staff of four servicing crew as well. This is the way I got thrown in the deep end several times. Being a single man, no married man wanted to go up to Vietnam, they would say “you’re single, you can go” and well I didn’t mind. I was young and silly in those days. I was 21 coming up 22 when I went to Singapore, and I was coming up 24 when I came home. I did another six months at Wigram, and then I got out of the Air Force.
“Generally, we’d leave out of Singapore. First, we would head to Malaya to stop off at a couple of army and airforce bases there. From there we’d head on to Bangkok where we dropped stuff off at the New Zealand embassy. Then occasionally we’d fly right up to Chiang Mai. From there we’d fly across the country, down to the base of Thailand again, to the area where the Bridge over the River Kwai film was set.
“We left Thailand and flew to overnight outside Phnom Penh in Cambodia, then fly the short hop into Saigon, landing there at about three in the afternoon. After we got everything sorted out, we went into town and were dropped off at our hotel by an army driver. The hotel was almost completely booked out by American troops on R&R, so we had a good night there. We weren’t allowed out of the hotel, but that didn’t stop us going to the local bar down the road. We just didn’t want to get caught by the local cops because they’d shoot on sight as the city was under curfew, so we had to be a bit careful.
“We got picked up in the morning and taken back out to the Saigon airfield [Tan Son Nhut Air Base] where we were dropped off at the big US Navy mess [US Army, Navy, Airforce and Marine corps were stationed there], which held about 300 people having breakfast. Everything was on display, including ice cream and jelly, and it only cost twenty-five cents.

Colin and crew land at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport to observe part of the airport under attack from Viet Cong missiles. © Colin Creighton.
“Six of us sat down to have breakfast when an almighty bang went off behind us. A soldier over the other side of the room jumped up and yelled: “get out of the room, there’s incoming!” Three hundred odd people just disappeared, leaving us Kiwis sitting there thinking “what the hell’s going on?” We thought we’d just finish our breakfasts and as we got stuck in another bang went off. This one was much closer and it made the fried eggs on my plate flip up and land on the table! Well, we thought “OK, what do we do now?” There was no-one else around, so I got up and went and helped myself to more fried egg, sat down and we all finished our breakfast!
“After breakfast we went outside, there was nobody around, so we jumped in the Land Rover and drove around the corner to the passenger terminal where we were to meet the aircrew. From there we could see everything that was going on on the airfield. The rockets started coming in right about then, in groups of three or four, and there were about a hundred during the morning, finishing at 11 am. Just as we would think “thank god, it’s all over,” the next lot started coming in so we had to stay put. All the windows in the passenger terminal were perspex and they were shaking in and out by about 150mm with each big bang.
“When we went outside there were pieces of metal lying around the building. We had to do a good clean around the area, pick up the shrapnel and make sure none was trapped in the aircraft, and there were no holes in it. The shrapnel was still blue with heat when we picked it up. When we finally got out of there, as we taxied out we could still see the smoke from rockets going off in the distance.”
Getting Personal
“From Saigon, we went up to near Cam Ranh Bay [Vietnam], which was a big naval base, then inland from that was an American airfield and we landed there. As we taxied in we could see there was an aircraft with a group of Viet Cong prisoners getting ready to be taken out. We went around the corner and parked, and as we were changing over our cargo, a machine gun on the hillside opened up – a big 12.7 mm Chinese or Russian machine gun.
“It was spraying bullets around – it wasn’t personal at that point – and I got the task of sitting on top of our aircraft and shooting back. After about three magazine-fulls the machine gun stopped, a gunship had come in from one side of the hillside and levelled all the trees with its mini Gatling guns. During that time I heard one round go past my ear with a hell of a bang, that’s when you know its getting personal!”

An RNZAF No. 41 Squadron Bristol Freighter taxies into Cam Ranh Bay Naval Base. Note the group of Viet Cong prisoners at right. © Colin Creighton.
Stuck in the Middle – the Risk of Friendly Fire
“We very hastily got out of there and flew back to Saigon, with just one more stop to go. We changed over freight and passengers and heading back down south. We flew at about 11,000 feet over the ground, so we’re out of the way of machine gunfire. As we were heading south, I looked up through the observation dome in the back, and I could see three contrails about 30,000 feet up. I said to the pilot over the intercom “be aware that we’re flying under a B-52 flight.” And he said, “don’t look down then will you.” Which I did and here are three big long, thick strips of jungle erupting underneath us. Each B52 aircraft was carrying 120 – 500 pounders, they’re big bombs, One of those would level about six houses and we went diagonally straight through the middle of it. We didn’t see them until they’d blow up underneath us, but we could feel the impulse of them as we flew over top!”
The Yanks weren’t too Impressed
“We got down to our last point, which was just a dirt landing strip. As we came in over the end of the runway, there was an almighty bang from under the freighter as we went over the fence line. We taxied in, I jumped out, and everybody came out and went looking around the aircraft expecting to see a big hole in it, but there was nothing. However, underneath the plane there were four aerials with a big lead between them, one had come adrift and slapped down under the belly of the aircraft. The Americans had put a pole up, with what looked like a big soccer ball on top, like a homing beacon to guide aircraft onto the runway. They’d put it up the day before, we took it off the next day, the Yanks weren’t too impressed!”

1975 RNZAF Bristol Freighter NZ5907 at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut Airport evacuating 33 passengers including the NZ Ambassador for South Vietnam, Norman Farrell (right). Source: Gary Danvers Collection, Flickr.
The Fall of Saigon – NZ Moves out
At the beginning of April 1975, New Zealand Embassy officials cabled Wellington and reported that the situation in Saigon was deteriorating rapidly. Norman Farrell, the New Zealand Ambassador, recommended the immediate evacuation of non-official New Zealand citizens. The civilian medical team had already been evacuated from Qui Nhon at the end of March.
Over the next two weeks the Singapore-based 41 Squadron RNZAF, which sent a detachment to Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut airport, made a series of flights to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate New Zealand citizens and various South Vietnamese nationals granted ‘unofficial’ refugee status. Some of these refugees, dependents of New Zealanders living and working in South Vietnam, were evacuated without the approval of their government. The last of these flights, on 21 April 1975, carried Ambassador Farrell and most of the remaining staff of the New Zealand Embassy. [vi]
“The enemy was coming in over one side of the airfield as our aircraft got out the other side. They had the New Zealand High Commissioner and his staff and equipment onboard these two aircraft, and they just got out of there by the skin of their teeth. This was our New Zealand High Commission that had been based in Saigon. These planes were loaded up with his staff, all their official documents and secret gear, some of their Vietnamese staff and anything else they needed to rescue. They were on the two aircraft with their aircrew and servicing crew on board. They operated out of there for about a week before that final day carting stuff out. But the very last flight out was the High Commissioner and his staff, and they were just getting out of there by the skin of their teeth. The old aircraft [Bristol Freighter] stood proud in the time it was up there.”

Colin provides guidance to Miss Saigon principal actors Jack Fraser (Chris) and James Foster (John) during a film shoot at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand.
Sources:
[i] Air Force Museum of New Zealand.
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._41_Squadron_RNZAF. Accessed 1 August 2019.
[iii] The Auckland Star Sep 1971 https://www.flickr.com/photos/gcdnz/32583591944
[iv] Bobajob, ex RNZAF Electrical/Avionics, Jan67 to Apr87. Accessed 31/7/1019
[v] Scotty’s List (Version 3) All Flights into Vietnam by 41 Squadron RNZAF 1 December 1962 – 21 April 1975 – Issued Oct 2017. Accessed 1 August 2019.
[vi] https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/memory/fall-saigon
With special thanks to Colin Creighton for sharing his memories.
Bụi đời – the dust of life
They’re called Bui-Doi
The dust of life
Conceived in Hell
And born in strife
They are the living reminder
Of all the good we failed to do
We can’t forget
Must not forget
That they are all our children, too
Miss Saigon [1]
Mỹ lai ‘Amerasians’
The children of American GIs and Vietnamese women
“Wisps of blonde can be seen bobbing and darting among the rivers of black haired women and children in the street markets.
“Round blue eyes peer out of thatched huts. Along dusty paths, some of the faces that beam up at strangers are black, others are fair-skinned.
“Contrary to some expectations, most of the mixed children have been accepted and cherished by their Vietnamese mothers and grandmothers, and many also by aunts and cousins and others in remote branches of their extended families.
“Relatively few have been totally abandoned to orphanages, and only a small number are available for adoption.
“The trouble comes outside the protective circle of the family, for when those youngsters step into the streets, enter the schools and seek new friendships, they are often met by teasing and ridicule from both adults and children.” [2]
New York Times reporter David Shipler wrote this from Saigon in 1974, the year following the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on 27 January 1974, heralding the suspension of all U.S. combat activities. The Vietnam War, as it was known in the US, had become a political hot potato. American people were protesting. Troop morale was generally low. Drug use was prevalent. In Vietnam, “drugs were more plentiful than cigarettes or chewing gum” and attempts to suppress use was “almost completely ineffective” and would come only with the withdrawal of the American troops, a US congressional report concluded in 1971. [3]
The standard length of service in Vietnam was one year. The best morale-builder of all was that soldiers could actually count the days ‘til they returned home.
Bụi đời– the dust of life
Left behind after the removal of the US troops were one million orphans who had grown up to have families – and lose them – during the war. Included were those known as Bui Doi – the dust of life. Some 8000 of these were the offspring of American GIs and Vietnamese mothers. Many were harassed, many were left to run the streets. These children were generally rejected by Vietnamese society, yet for years, Vietnam would not let them out, and America would not let them in.
“They are of mixed race in an essentially homogeneous society, without a father in a patriarchal society, reminders of what is seen as lack of morality on the part of Vietnamese women and of a time in Vietnamese history that is not exactly viewed with joy and happiness.” [4]
Estimates vary as to exactly how many ‘Amerasian’ children there were in Vietnam. “The US Government has alluded to about 8,000, while the Vietnamese say there are in excess of 10,000, maybe up to 15,000,” said human rights lawyer Sanford Mevorah in 1985. At the time, only 131 had made it to the US.
“The US and Vietnam had agreed that the children, born of American servicemen and Vietnamese women during the Vietnam War, were a US responsibility, but the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries meant there was no machinery to bring them to the US.” [4]
Colour Makes a Difference

Saigon. In the An-Loi area of the town more than 15.000 refugees were housed including Eurasian and Afr-Asian orphans left behind by the departing of US army. Source: Magnum Photos.
The illegitimate ‘negro-fathered’ children were doubly disadvantaged. New Zealand paediatrician Dr. Margaret Neave worked for the Save The Children Fund with the NZ surgical team in Vietnam, based at the Qui Nhon hospital in South Vietnam.
When asked about their future, she spoke plainly:
“Their future? None I can see.
“At the moment, most are protected in orphanages. But later on . . . well, they won’t get jobs. Discrimination, you know.
“The Vietnamese are disgusted by them.”
Dr. Neave estimated there were “some thousands” of these children throughout Vietnam – most of them left behind in moves to adopt orphans. She did not criticise the Vietnamese attitude towards these children, and said, “You need a few generations of food in your belly to afford generosity.” [5]
One former Vũng Tàu bar girl had three half-black children by three different GIs. The soldiers have all gone home, but she has “no regrets” she said, “Because at the time I
like to have money.”
“It was a happy life. A house to live in, you like with one American, that American gave you money and bought you things. With all that money it is you who made the decision to work that way or not. And if you happen to have a baby because you’re not careful, that’s your bad luck”. [6]
Generally speaking, the different children, the half-white as well as the half-black, were “doomed to ostracism.”
“But, of course, it is worse for the Afro-Asian children. Like many other people, the Vietnamese are very conscious of colour,” Mcrovah said in a 1985 interview, appealing to the United Nations for help to break the political impasse that existed preventing ‘Amerasian’ children from being brought to the United States from Vietnam.
“They consider dark skin undesirable, associating it with the Moi, or savages, the tribal people who occupy their mountainous rain-forest country. To them, light skin colour – as long as it is without the taint of foreignness – is highly prized.”
Nobody Cares
It wasn’t just the Americans who had left their mark on a generation of Vietnamese children.
“In 1954, when the French military forces withdrew in defeat from Indo-China, they left behind an estimated 10,000 illegitimate Eurasian children and a scattering of Afro-Asians in Vietnam alone.
“By the end of 1967, nearly 4000 of these children were repatriated to France under that Government’s policy of recognising citizenship regardless of legitimacy”.
“Saigon’s streets, as well as the streets of Da Nang, Tuy Hoa, Bien Hoa, Vung Tau, and other cities occupied by foreign troops in Vietnam, are crowded with homeless children who beg, shine shoes, pimp, sell themselves, wait around for a chance to steal.
“These boys and girls have nothing, and nobody cares. Cuts, scratches, and abrasions on their dirty bodies become infected and scarred. Their flimsy cotton shirts and shorts go from dirty to filthy, and then rot into tatters until the children beg or steal money to replace them.”
“Every war produces illegitimate children, but under some conditions, the children are fairly easily absorbed into their society. How many illegitimate children were born in Europe during World War II will never be known, because, except for the half-Negro children, the youngsters’ parentage has gone generally unremarked.
”As the illegitimate boys of Vietnam have little choice but to beg or steal, so the girls mostly become prostitutes.” [7]

The Showbiz Christchurch production of Miss Saigon is at the Isaac Theatre Royal from 27 September 2019
Sources:
[1] Miss Saigon music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr, adapted from the original French lyrics by Alain Boublil.
[2] The GIs’ children grow up (1974, September 11). The Canberra Times (ACT: 1926 – 1995), p. 15. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
[3] McDonald, Ian. “Over half of American Army have tried drugs.” Times, 29 Apr. 1971, p. 1. The Times Digital Archive, Accessed 27 July 2019.
[4] UNITED NATIONS Help urged for Vietnam’s ‘children of the dust’ (1985, November 8). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995), p. 5. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
[5] “All Children Must Have A Future“” The Australian Women’s Weekly (1933 – 1982) 9 August 1972: 6. Web. 28 Jul 2019.
[6] The GIs’ children grow up (1974, September 11). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995), p. 15. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
[7] The forgotten waifs of the war in Vietnam (1969, December 17). The Australian Women’s Weekly (1933 – 1982), p. 68. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
Saigon Tea, Bar Girls and ‘Boom Boom’
The jarring reality of life as a bar girl during the Vietnam war

In the Showbiz Christchurch production of Miss Saigon, American GI Chris (played by Jack Fraser) and Vietnamese orphan Kim (played by Tina Bergantinos-Panlilio) meet in a Saigon bar where Kim works as a bargirl.
The French had designed Saigon to accommodate 300,000 people. By 1972 there were over three million people in the twenty-one square miles of Saigon proper, and another million on the outskirts. It had become the most densely populated city in the world. South Vietnam had transformed from 90% rural to 60% urban. “The French left three permanent features; boulevards, bread and brothels,” wrote Anthony Carthew for the Canberra Times in 1966.
During the American Vietnam war, the bars in central Saigon were the haunt for thieves, confidence men, beggars and gangs of children who’d rob soldiers as they left. Brawling was common.
“Le Thi Xuan, at 16, has already had considerable experience peddling cigarettes and prophylactics at the entrances to bars where Americans congregate, and she is just beginning to work as a bar hostess, Xuan asserts in her rapid pidgin English, ‘Someday of the war in Vietnam I get American husband, go States. I got American boy-friend work ship … all time go Manila come back Vietnam. He make beaucoup [big] money. He talk maybe pretty soon we marry, go States.’
“For all Xuan’s confident assertion, there is apprehension in her voice. She knows it is unlikely she’ll marry an American. She’s much more likely to bear an illegitimate child who will inherit her kind of life.”
“In order to enter the society of bar hostesses, she lies about her age. The police make a half-hearted attempt to see that the hostesses are at least 18, but abuses of age limits and activities far outstrip enforcement.” [1]
Many of Saigon’s bar girls came from villages in the Mekong Delta – the vast maze of rivers, swamps and islands at the southern tip of Vietnam. Others were war widows with young families to support.
“One feels sorry, of course, for these men, many of whom die from wounds because their slender bodies have so little resistance to infection and shock. But their widows are in need of a deeper sympathy. In some cases, Vietnamese-fashion, they have to support the entire family, ranging from grandparents to obscure, penniless cousins. When her man is killed, a Vietnamese wife is paid one year’s salary by the army – about $220 (£110) for private. After that – nothing.
“If she is pretty she can become a bar girl and hope; to make enough money to open a little street stall in the market, which is every bar girl’s ambition. If she is not pretty, and does not have the education which would win her one of the few jobs open to women, she has no alternative but to become a prostitute.” [2]
All were ostracised from ordinary Vietnamese society. Yet their weekly earnings were reported to be more than that of South Vietnamese cabinet ministers. [3] “A prostitute earned as much as $180 per month. The average government civil servant earned roughly $30 a month, and even cabinet ministers and Assembly members had fixed salaries of $120.” [4]

Mai (20) works in one of the many bars in the area of To do Street in Saigon. She earns more keeping soldiers ‘company’ and keeping them drinking than does any member of the Vietnamese Cabinet or Assembly. Mai claims she supports her mother and 5 young brothers and sisters on her earnings. When she first went to work in the bar she cried all day, but later she got used to the job. Her biggest worry is that she will never find a “nice” Vietnamese man willing to marry her because of what she does. She hopes to move to another part of the country when the war is over and start a new life. She can earn as much as $180 a month. Source: Magnum Photos.
Australian troops were considered much tighter with his money than their American counterparts. They were nicknamed ‘Cheap Charlies’ by the bar girls who had a little ditty they used to sing to the tune of ‘This Old Man’:

Lester Mengel, The 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2 RAR) with Kim, a Vietnamese prostitute. Source: Australians at War Film Archive.
Uc Dai Lot. Cheap Charlie
He no buy me Saigon Tea .
Saigon Tea cost many, many P [piastres, the local almost worthless Vietnamese currency]
Uc Dai Lai, he Cheap Charlie.
Uc-da-loi, Cheap Charlie,
He no give me MPC, [Military Pay Certificate]
MPC costs many many P,
Uc-da-loi he Cheap Charlie.
Uc-da-loi, Cheap Charlie
He no go to bed with me,
Bed with me costs many many P
Uc-da-loi he Cheap Charlie.
Uc-da-loi, Cheap Charlie,
Make me give him one for free,
Mamma-san go crook at me,
Uc-da-loi, he Cheap Charlie.
Uc-da-loi, Cheap Charlie,
He give baby-san to me,
Baby-san costs many many P,
Uc-da-loi, he Cheap Charlie.
Uc-da-loi, Cheap Charlie,
He go home across the sea,
He leave baby-san with me,
Uc-da-loi he Cheap Charlie
Saigon Tea
Saigon Tea bars were usually narrow places, with a bar and stools along one side and small padded booths on the other. The manager was called ‘Papa -san’ and he looked after the cash register. Middle-aged women, called ‘Mama- san’, kept the girls moving.
Once inside, the customer would sit at the bar and order a drink, paying around $2. The local brew, Ba Muoi Ba (33), was best avoided. It was low quality, unfit for human consumption according to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and rumoured to contain formaldehyde – but it was cheap! [5]
About 20 seconds after sitting down at the bar, a girl would sidle up and introduce herself to the GI. The dialogue was unromantic and, to the uninitiated, incomprehensible:
“Hey, you. You No 1 (the best). Come here, sit down’, the bar girl begins as she spies a GI.
“How long you come Vietnam? How long you stay? Where you work? Work Bien Hoa, huh? You kill beaucoup VC (Big Vietcong) you No 1. You buy me one Saigon tea? I love you too much.”
If he showed interest, she would ask him to buy her a glass of Saigon tea, a one-ounce glass of almost colourless liquid costing $2 and tasting faintly of mint.
“With it comes a paper tab in two parts. The girl tears off her half of the tab, for which she will later collect $1.”
“By the time the customer has bought two glasses of Saigon tea, and had two drinks himself, he can be persuaded to sit in one of the padded booths. Once there, he is kissed, cuddled, tickled and petted — and encouraged to buy Saigon-tea — until he either regains his senses or runs out of money. Generally, these two things happen to him at the same time.”
“A tea-bar girl is slim, dark and fascinating. Her age is between 17 and 30. Working eight hours, she can earn up to $40 a day. Often her earnings provide food and lodging for her large refugee family who would otherwise be destitute.”[6]

Photo from manhhai on Flickr captioned: GI and bar girls in a bar during the Vietnam War in September 1967 in Saigon
Deluxe class joy-girls
Some bar girls will promise anything to sell another glass of Saigon-tea with no intention of giving the customer anything other than attentive company and superficial affection. Others, however, are prepared to go further. “They’ll bat their dark eyes like a schoolgirl and ask the GI: ‘How much you pay?’” [7]
From dingy back street bars to the ‘the de luxe class joy-girls’ on the verandah of the Continental Palace, ‘a relic of the French Colonial days’, bar-girls were everywhere. [8] There were between 100,000 and 300,000 girls who were prostitutes, bar girls and temporary wives of GIs, heavily dependent on the American presence. [9]
“The dignity of Vietnamese women has also suffered tremendously during these five, six years since the arrival of the American troops. The women who have been driven from the countryside because of the heavy bombing have to flock into the towns, can’t find any jobs, and so have to prostitute themselves. It’s the only way left to them—they are sold as sex objects. The families with daughters who have gone to that point suffer. Even the husbands have to shut their eyes when their wives have to prostitute themselves in order to feed the children. And it’s moral torture for the husbands”, said Madame Van of the People’s Liberation Government. [10]
With the wartime boom in prostitution, the courts no longer committed a girl solely for being a prostitute, as “that would be like trying to stop a tidal wave”, said Sister Mary, an Irish nun who ran a centre for delinquent girls in Vinh Long, South Vietnam, 50 miles southwest of Saigon. Girls from ages 10 to 18 were admitted to the centre founded in 1958 by the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem (1954-63) after a crackdown on vice. The girls had often been involved in more serious crimes, such as kidnapping other girls. Sister Mary pointed out some of the girls and spoke matter-of-factly:
“There’s Lisa, she’s 10. She was working in a brothel in Saigon. She still has marks on her body.”
“That is Rose — she used to steal 10,000 piastres ($A40) a day.”
“She [16-year-old Margaret] was kidnapped, drugged, and put to work in a Saigon bar”.
The Economics of War
When the Americans withdrew from 1974, a significant source of income left with them. The new government found themselves responsible for “an unknown number of prostitutes, drug addicts and other social misfits whose existence had until then depended on the corruption generated by rich foreigners.” [11]
The Communist government claimed 350,000 prostitutes were left behind and set about a programme of ‘re-education’ establishing the ‘Centre of Rehabilitation for the Dignity of Women’ in Saigon. Between 1975 and 1985, over 14,000 women in the newly named Ho Chi Minh City were sent to these centres.
Sister Françoise, a French Roman Catholic nun and government advisor, spoke of the prostitutes as generally simple peasant women driven into the trade by the economics of war. The majority were common women forced to migrate into the city either because of the fighting or bombing or through the Strategic Hamlet Program, the plan by the governments of South Vietnam and the US to combat the communist insurgency. [12]
Like the American resort at Vũng Tàu where ‘boom boom girls’ serviced the needs of GIs on leave, the French, after 100 years of occupation, also had some experience in this area:
“After a 56 day siege beginning March 13, 1954… French colonialism died in Indochina after almost 100 years, in one of the 20th century’s crucial battles.
“There were women then, too, inside the French encampment. … There were also two ‘bordels mobiles de campagne’, French mobile field brothels, with 18 Algerian and Vietnamese girls. When the siege ended, the puritan Vietminh sent the Vietnamese girls and their madame for ‘re-education’, as happened to Saigon bar girls after 1975. Yet now, my hotel, like others in Dien Bien Phu, had its own willing courtesans in a large annex marked ‘Thai massage’. Puritanism has gone the way of state central planning as the free market flourishes. So much for ‘re-education’,” wrote James Pringle for Reuters in 2004. [13]
“In the French as well as in the American period, the ‘Flower Boats’ or sampans plied their trade. They were frequently family operations, with the daughter(s) working as prostitute(s) while the brothers pimped on dry land. Some of the larger junks, however, were professionally run, often by the Saigon underworld. Prior to 1975, statistics from the Ministry of Society of the Saigon government reported about 200,000 professional prostitutes. In Saigon alone in 1968, there were about 10,000 professional prostitutes. By 1974, the figure had reached 100,000.” [14]

Photo from manhhai on Flickr captioned: Saigon 1972 – Photo by Raymond Depardon – Rạp REX chiếu phim Love Story (Chuyện Tình) American soldiers and Vietnamese women in front of a movie theater.
Sightseeing and ‘sweet nothings’
When the American military withdrew from South Vietnam and Thailand, the extensive sex industry created for the rest and recreation of the troops had to find new markets. The Asian sex industry turned to other countries to find ways to continue to profit from the estimated 100,000 prostitutes who had been recruited to meet military needs. One route to profit was though sexual tourism. [15]
By the end of the 20th century Vietnam’s southwestern neighbour, the impoverished, corrupt and lawless Cambodia, had become the centre of the child sex trade – a favourite destination for sex tourists.
Poor Vietnamese parents caught up in the country’s thirst for consumer goods, sold their children for as little as £200, condemning them to torture, humiliation and disease in neighbouring Cambodia. They were joining the children from India, Thailand and the Philippines working as prostitutes in Asians squalid brothels.
“When I first met one of these children, 12-year-old Dah Vit, it was clear she had been tortured. Cigarette burns scarred her rest and hands. We were sitting in the back room of a brothel a few miles outside of Phnom pen, the Cambodian capital.
“‘She’s a virgin, fresh, no diseases’, the mother-san, the brothel’s madam, told me.
“Dah Vit’s mother, Trang, believe she had sent the Dah Vit and her other two daughters into the restaurant trade ‘for three months’. The money they would earn would help the whole family.”
“When they come home we will all be better off. Maybe, one day, we will even have a television,” Trang told reporter Nick Daniel in 1996. [16]
Ten years later, Deborah Orr reported in The Independent that Vietnam had become a primary source and destination country for forced labour and sexual exploitation.
“Criminal gangs operating in Vietnam are known to recruit children promising jobs or marriages abroad, or to purchase them from guardians eager to be rid of them.”[17]
Hagar New Zealand is a charitable organisation which supports the recovery of women and children who have survived severe human rights abuse in Vietnam, Cambodia and Afghanistan. They said of Vietnam:
“Vietnam remains a significant target for traffickers. Vulnerable women, men, and children are at risk of sex trafficking and forced labour. Women are trafficked as brides to neighbouring countries, as well as further afield, with incidents of trafficking that reach as far as Europe.” [18]
The willingness for families to pimp their own daughters and for women to seek out prostitution as a career has been attributed both to greed and capitalism on the one hand, and poverty and war on the other. Combined with the ancient ethnic value called ‘phuc duc’ or merit-virtue- which can be created by women and handed on to future generations – and filial responsibility, these may help explain why prostitution was so prevalent during the Vietnam War.
The Tale of Kieu, a significant work of Vietnamese literature, is a poem which recounts the life, trials and tribulations of Thúy Kiều, a beautiful and talented yet tragic young woman, whose story is used to illustrate phuc duc. Like Kim in Miss Saigon and tens of thousands of other Vietnamese bar and ‘boom boom’ girls during the Vietnam War, she sacrificed herself to save her family.
Within the span of hundred years of human existence,
what a bitter struggle is waged between genius and destiny!
How many harrowing events have occurred while mulberries cover the conquered sea!
Rich in beauty, unlucky in life!
Strange indeed, but little wonder,
since casting hatred upon rosy cheeks is a habit of the Blue Sky.[19]

The Showbiz Christchurch production of Miss Saigon is at the Isaac Theatre Royal from 27 September 2019
Other stories: Mai Lan Gustafsson’s “The Warlore of Vietnamese Bargirls,” Part 1 | Part 2
Sources:
[1] The forgotten waifs of the war in Vietnam (1969, December 17). The Australian Women’s Weekly (1933 – 1982), p. 68. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
[2] Weary Vietnam no future (1966, February 23). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1995), p. 20. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
[3] ”Clean-Up Drive in Central Saigon Shifting ‘Tea’ Girls to Outskirts.” International Herald Tribune [European Edition], 14 Mar. 1972, p. 5. International Herald Tribune Historical Archive 1887-2013,
[4] http://www.sexquest.com/ccies-kinsey/vn.php.html Accessed 30 August 2019.
[5] The delights of Vung Tau (1972, March 9). Woroni (Canberra, ACT : 1950 – 2007), p. 7. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
[6] Tea for two in Saigon (1969, October 20). Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (Port Moresby : 1969 – 1981), p. 12. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
[7] GI JOE LOSES HIS HUMOUR Vietnam- the very unfunny war (1966, November 3). The Canberra Times (ACT: 1926 – 1995), p. 27. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
[8] “Vietnam: the empty promises.” The Listener, 6 Feb. 1975, p. 162+. The Listener Historical Archive, 1929-1991, Accessed 27 July 2019.
[9] South Vietnam (1970, May 5). Tharunka (Kensington, NSW : 1953 – 2010), p. 10. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
[10] Steinberg, Marsha. “Women of the South.” The Second Wave: A Magazine of the New Feminism, vol. 2, no. 2, 1972, p. 9+. Women’s Studies Archive. Accessed 28 July 2019.
[11] Indo-China’s first year of peace (1976, May 18). Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (Port Moresby : 1969 – 1981), p. 5. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
[12] “Prostitutes Rehabilitated.” International Herald Tribune [European Edition], 29 Jan. 1976, p. 2. International. Herald Tribune Historical Archive 1887-2013. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Becker, Elizabeth. “French Nun Helping Vietnam to Rehabilitate Prostitutes.” International Herald Tribune [European Edition], 29 Nov. 1976, p. 4. International Herald Tribune Historical Archive 1887-2013, Accessed 28 July 2019.
[13] Pringle, James. “Au Revoir, Dien Bien Phu.” International Herald Tribune [European Edition], 1 Apr. 2004, p. 9. International Herald Tribune Historical Archive 1887-2013. Accessed 29 July 2019.
[14] http://www.sexquest.com/ccies-kinsey/vn.php.html Accessed 30 August 2019.
[15] ‘Terror and Coercion: The Female Sexual Slave Trade‘ 1979. 1979. TS Grassroots Feminist Organizations, Part 1: Boston Area Second Wave Organizations, 1968-1998: Women Against Violence Against Women Records, 1972-1985. Northeastern University. Women’s Studies Archive. Accessed 27 July 2019.
[16] Daniel, Nick. “Children sold into sex slavery on Street of Flowers.” Sunday Telegraph, 1 Dec. 1996, p. 26. The Telegraph Historical Archive. Accessed 27 July 2019.
[17] Orr, Deborah. “The cruel hypocrisy that demonises the world’s most vulnerable people.” Independent, 19 Aug. 2006, p. 11. The Independent Digital Archive. Accessed 27 July 2019.
[18] https://hagar.org.nz/vietnam/. Accessed 28 July 2019
[19] From Lê Xuân Thuy’s (1968) Kim Vân Kiều, second edition, page 19
God Save the Queen: Ruth Agnew from What’s Up Christchurch reviews WWRY
We Will Rock You: The MusicalBy Queen and Ben EltonDirected by Stephen RobertsonMusical direction by Richard…
Posted by What's Up Christchurch on Wednesday, 3 April 2019
WWRY: “an exceptional, high energy, full noise and lights opening night”
Reviewed by Kate Divett, Backstage Christchurch.
Friday 29 March
It is a deeply reflective time to be living in Christchurch currently, as we try to make sense of the events of Friday 15th March. We are a city in mourning and in shock. In the fortnight that has followed, we have gathered together in many ways – to grieve those who have been lost, to support those who remain, and in vigils for the peace and way of life we hold so dearly. Gatherings have been important.
Showbiz Christchurch thought deeply about whether or not to gather for the opening of their season of We Will Rock You. Their unanimous decision that “the show must go on” was the right one. I have personally found solace in the words of Leonard Bernstein this week: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before” and I held these words in my mind as I entered the theatre doors on Friday night.
So this is what the cast and crew of We Will Rock You have done: an exceptional, high energy, full noise and lights opening night, and an act of defiance against those who would want our lives interrupted. Bravo and thank you to all involved.
With the theatrical music of Queen woven together by the comedic writing of Ben Elton, it’s a winning combination. The story is set 300 years in the future, and the internet has destroyed any sense of community or individualism. Humans conform to mainstream, commercial ideals that are enforced, Big Brother-style, by Globalsoft Corporation. A small group of rebel Bohemians, however, are living counter to this tyranny, believing in a prophecy that a dreamer will come to help them find the last remaining musical instrument that has been hidden on the iPlanet. And there’s obviously a love story in there for good measure, which is brilliant.
Okay, the story might be a little bonkers, but we’re really here for the music – and we are not let down. At all. If the title of the show “We Will Rock You” was a promise, then Showbiz have definitely kept it. From the opening strains of ‘Innuendo’, we’re reminded that Queen’s music is intricate, lyrical, and incredibly well-known – especially in the recent success of 2018’s biographical film about Freddie Mercury, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The band set the tone for an epic night of rock immediately, and bravo in particular to Michael Ferrar and Heather Webb for their work on guitars. Brian May’s solos and breaks are some of the more recognisable in music history!
The night belonged to the two lead roles though. Caleb Jago-Ward (Galileo) is phenomenal – it’s actually difficult to adequately express how extraordinary his voice is.
It is a treat to see him throw himself into what must be a very fun role to perform and apply his vocal talent to. Every song was a winner. Jane Leonard (Scaramouche) is equally brilliant and a fabulous casting opposite Jago-Ward, bringing sass, feisty attitude and some great comic timing. I particularly enjoyed ‘Somebody To Love’, but the duet moments for these two singers – particularly in ‘Under Pressure’ and ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ were magical.
Naomi Ferguson (Killer Queen) and Jack Fraser (Khashoggi) had reliably good performances as the evil counterparts to Galileo and Scaramouche. Ferguson, in particular, had a big role with a big personality to play – and a wig to match – and the vocal range required of her songs would be a challenge for most singers. We have Freddie Mercury to thank for that! Her costumes were wonderfully outrageous, and this is a good opportunity to congratulate Diane Brodie QSM (Costume) and Sarah Greenwood-Buchanan (Hair and Makeup) and their teams for their incredible work once again.
Aaron Boyce (Buddy), Catherine Hay (Oz), and Tom Hart (Brit) played excellent parts and contributed even more mouth-dropping vocal performances. I particularly noted that Hart’s voice at times sounded incredibly similar to Mercury’s, particularly in ‘I Want It All’. Hay and Hart have some very funny on-stage chemistry and brought wonderful comedic moments. Boyce plays a fabulous futuristic hipster, a great leader of the Bohemian group.
The cohesion of direction, musical, production and technical elements of this production is evident for all to see.
The Showbiz Christchurch team should be incredibly satisfied that they are doing their bit to serve the Christchurch community with high-quality moments of escape into the Arts when we need it most. The themes of the show – standing up for what you believe in, acceptance of difference, friendship, and the power of music to unify people – hold an added poignancy that could not have been predicted. The response from the audience on opening night – whooping, hollering, and generous applause throughout, followed by a joy-filled sing-a-long and an emphatic standing ovation – were all confirmation that this is a show that will add to our collective wellbeing. Audiences should secure their tickets before the season sells out and get ready to rock (yeah!).
The Showbiz Christchurch Saunders & Co Season of We Will Rock You is on from 29 March – 13 April at Isaac Theatre Royal.
Hit Queen musical to have its NZ theatre company premiere in Christchurch

Queen (image supplied).
It’s been 27 years since legendary Queen front-man Freddie Mercury passed away from an AIDS related illness yet his music remains as popular as ever.
Anyone who grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s will remember Mercury for his flamboyance and enormous popularity, and thanks to the recent success of the multi award winning biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, new generations of music lovers are discovering the powerful and uplifting songs of Queen.
Even though it’s been over two decades since the original band members wrote and performed together, Queen remains as popular as ever due to their “dramatic, anthemic and inspiring songs which never get old no matter how many times you’ve heard them”, wrote entertainment reporter Emily Brow.
Writing on the news website Unilad she quotes NZ music professor and Queen fan Nick Braae: “Queen frequently sing about themes that have a universal quality; searching for love, family and relationship challenges, growing up, understanding one’s identity – none of which are confined to a particular historical time.”
Unsurpassed for their unique lyrics, dramatic and innovative style, it’s no surprise that the music of Queen underpins a unique musical theatre show which makes its NZ theatre company premiere in Christchurch on 29 March 2019.

Comedy writer Ben Elton (image supplied).
Written by comedy genius Ben Elton (Blackadder, The Young Ones) and Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, We Will Rock You (WWRY) features 24 of Queen’s biggest hits re-imagined and woven into the story of a dystopian world where individuality is extinct and live music is banned. Born into this world are Galileo and Scaramouche, two outcasts who band together with a rebel gang of Bohemians to rediscover rock music and bring down the all-powerful GlobalSoft company and its tyrannical boss, The Killer Queen.
The story may sound as far-fetched as most of Queen’s lyrics but the musical’s worldwide popularity is undeniable. Since its West End debut in 2002, it has toured internationally amassing audience numbers of over 16 million.
The set, props and costumes for this Showbiz Christchurch production have come from Queen Theatrical and feature over 150 costume pieces designed by BAFTA and Olivier award-winning costume designer Tim Goodchild. Taking influence from Adam Ant, Kiss, Boy George, Madonna, the Bay City Rollers and other ‘80s musical icons, Goodchild has created a wardrobe of eclectic designs that are evocative of a Vivienne Westwood couture collection.
The set, built in the UK by leading designers Stufish Entertainment, will be brought to life on the Isaac Theatre Royal stage by director Stephen Robertson, lighting designer Grant Robertson (The Light Site), AV designer Dave Spark (Pixel Productions), sound designer Glen Ruske (BounceNZ), and David Bosworth (4th Wall Theatre Services).

Caleb Jago-Ward as Galileo (Photo by Showbiz Christchurch/Danielle Colvin).
Caleb Jago-Ward has returned home to take on the lead role of Galileo after his show-stealing performance in The Court Theatre’s recent production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Caleb sprang to attention on the The Voice Australia as a member of Team Delta. It was his performance of the Queen song ‘Somebody to Love’ that got all the judges on their feet and dancing during a blind audition.
Caleb will be joined on stage by Jane Leonard (Scaramouche), Naomi Ferguson (Killer Queen), Jack Fraser (Khashoggi), Aaron Boyce (Buddy), Catherine Hay (Oz), Tom Hart (Brit), an eight member rock band led by musical director Richard Marrett, and an ensemble of 26 singers and dancers, supported by six backing vocalists. Behind-the-scenes are hundreds of volunteers and theatre professionals who provide the crew, technical, costume, front of house, and management expertise needed to bring a show of this size to the Isaac Theatre Royal stage. “It’s our way to share our love of Queen,” says Showbiz president Markham Lee.

Naomi Ferguson as the dominatrix dictator, Killer Queen. (Image: Showbiz Christchurch/Danielle Colvin.
For the last two years Showbiz have partnered with Christchurch Pride to support each other’s events and shows. “This year – with We Will Rock You – it is appropriate that we have widened that partnership to include the New Zealand Aids Foundation,” says Showbiz marketing manager Wendy Riley.
Showbiz will be supporting the ‘Choice’ campaign to end HIV by donating to NZAF all profits from a WWRY ticketed backstage tour, collecting donations at performances, and making a donation on behalf of the WWRY company at the end of the season.
“Freddie Mercury was such an icon and an important part of starting conversations around HIV with the wider public,” says Jason Myers, CEO of the New Zealand Aids Foundation. “We’re very glad to have the support of Showbiz in raising awareness of, and funds toward, our goal of no new HIV transmissions in Aotearoa by 2025.”
The Showbiz Christchurch production We Will Rock You, the musical by Queen and Ben Elton is on at the Isaac Theatre Royal from 29 March to 13 April. Offical tickets only available from Ticketek.co.nz
Three big new shows, new seating categories and more affordable seats to feature in 2019 season
The launch of the Showbiz Christchurch 2019 season brings together three exciting new productions; a new ticketing structure which significantly increases the availability of entry level Showbiz tickets; and the continuation of the successful partnership with Christchurch law firm Saunders & Co.
The 2019 Saunders and Co Season begins with the New Zealand theatre company premiere of We Will Rock You, the musical by Queen and Ben Elton. The show features more than 24 of the biggest hits written by Queen and its legendary frontman, the late Freddie Mercury, set in a dystopian future world controlled by all-powerful global company controlled by the Killer Queen, where rock music is banned. Two young outsiders and a handful of rock rebels called the Bohemians band together and embark on the search to find the unlimited power of freedom, love and rock music!
Over 16 million theatregoers in 28 countries have rocked out to this unique musical based on the songs of Queen since it opened in 2002. The Showbiz production will be directed by Stephen Robertson with choreography by Gemma Kearney. Musical direction is by Richard Marrett and Matthew Everingham.
The mid-year concert season builds on the success of Broadway Hitmen in 2018 which featured some of the most popular tunes by musical hit maker Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber takes the concert to a new level with fully staged and choreographed production numbers from blockbuster shows like The Phantom of the Opera, CATS, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita and more. Devised by Lloyd Webber, this will be Christchurch’s only chance to be part of an exclusive weekend concert season as the concert rights will not be available after 2019.
Ravil Atlas will be returning in the 2019 concert, this time in the role of Artistic Director.
The 2019 Saunders and Co Season finishes with one of the most daring theatrical spectacles of all time. Nominated for an incredible number of Olivier, Tony and Drama Desk Awards, Miss Saigon is the second massively successful musical from the creators of Les Misérables.
Based on the story of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly, Miss Saigon is an epic sung-through pop musical that is universal in its emotional power set amongst the turmoil of the Vietnam War.
Showbiz first staged the New Zealand premiere of Miss Saigon in 2009 to sold-out houses. New Zealand’s foremost directing duo Robertson and Marrett will come together again to bring Miss Saigon to new audiences.
Building on successful strategies developed in 2018 for increasing accessibility to Showbiz productions, the launch of the 2019 Saunders & Co Season on 30 November 2018 will see a new ticket pricing structure introduced which will double the availability of the lowest priced Showbiz tickets.
“Lowering ticket pricing where it counts most is a great way Showbiz, as a community theatre company, can help lower the barriers to audiences for our shows,” says General Manager Michael Bayly.
The two entry priced seating categories, B and C Reserve, have been merged together to create a new B Reserve but all at the lower C Reserve price. This has increased the number of the most affordable seats in the 2019 Showbiz Christchurch Saunders & Co season by almost 100%.
2018 Season Sponsors Saunders and Co are excited to continue to partner with Showbiz Christchurch and endorse these new initiatives. This partnership enables quality innovative productions to continue to be staged by Showbiz for local Cantabrian audiences at the Isaac Theatre Royal.
2019 Season discounts are available for all Premium and A Reserve seating purchased prior to 31 January 2019.
First Audio Described Performance of Les Misérables in NZ
The 2018 Showbiz season comes to an epic conclusion in September with Les Misérables – the third staging of this popular musical in the organisation’s 80 year history, and also the third to be directed by leading NZ musical director Stephen Robertson.
As part of the inaugural NZ Theatre Month this September – a nationwide festival celebrating New Zealand theatre and the people involved in making it – Showbiz Christchurch is delighted to present their first Audio Described Performance and Touch Tour of Les Misérables. This is a ticketed event for a limited number of visually impaired patrons and their companions during a public performance.
Winner of over 100 international awards and seen by over 65 million people worldwide, Les Mis’ popularity is undisputed but Showbiz wasn’t sure if it would also be a good candidate for an audio described performance.
“We consulted extensively with the Blind Foundation to make sure ‘Les Mis’ would work for their clients,” says Showbiz’s Marketing Manager, Wendy Riley. “Foundation Recreation and Volunteer Coordinator Petronella Spicer is an avid theatregoer so we asked her to review the show and give us her opinion. Once we got the greenlight from her we felt confident in moving forward with the performance.”
NZ Opera have previously audio described their productions of Madam Butterfly and Tosca at the Isaac Theatre Royal. Showbiz Christchurch’s production of Les Misérables is believe to be the first musical to be audio described in the South Island.
Showbiz has engaged the services of a professional audio describer Rachel Sears who has been instrumental in championing accessible theatre. Sears will spend around a week watching rehearsals and preparing for the audio described performance on Sunday 23 September. She will describe the visual aspects of the show live to audience members fitted with headsets that enable them to also hear the live performance. The audio describing equipment is provided by Christchurch company BounceNZ who are industry leaders in theatre sound operation.
Theatregoers who attend the audio described performance will also be able to take a backstage ‘Touch Tour’ prior to the show, so they can understand the makeup of the set, props, costumes and the physical nature of the actors before they attend the performance.
Showbiz also has plans to open up the doors backstage on Saturday 22 September so members of the general public can gain rare access and insight into what it takes to stage a large Broadway-style musical. Tour numbers are limited and tickets will cost $10, proceeds from which will go towards offsetting some of the costs of providing the Audio Described Performance and Touch Tour.
The Isaac Theatre Royal will also open the foyer from 11am to 4pm to view dynamic displays that chart the history of the theatre and some of the stage productions, and catch a glimpse of Les Misérables set from the auditorium.
“These initiatives are part of the journey to make Showbiz Christchurch productions more accessible to a wider audience” says General Manager Michael Bayly.
Audio Described Performance and Touch Tour of Les Misérables:
- 4pm, 23 September 2018
- Information and tickets phone Showbiz Christchurch (03) 377 7954.
Les Misérables Public Backstage Tour:
- 22 September 2018. Tour times: 10:30am, 11:00am, 11:30am, 12 noon and 12:30pm.
Each tour takes 45 minutes. - The Isaac Theatre Royal foyer will also be open from 11am – 4pm.
- Opens 14 September 2018
Isaac Theatre Royal
“Wicked a show not to be missed” says Reviewer
Reviewed by Matt Markham
Editor, Ashburton Guardian
As someone who has never cared much for the Wizard of Oz, the prospect of a stage show based entirely on the untold story of the witches of the same imaginary land left me feeling a little apprehensive.
The process of munchkins, men made from both tin and straw and an afraid lion all mixed in together with a girl in red slippers never really piqued my attention growing up and so I headed to the Isaac Theatre Royal on Saturday night for the second showing of Showbiz Christchurch’s latest production, Wicked with some strongly mixed emotions.
Knowing there was some incredibly talented Mid Canterbury faces in the cast had eased my apprehension somewhat and within two minutes of the curtain rising I found myself captivated, intrigued and sitting on the edge of my seat enjoying every moment.
The world-renowned show, that has been a hit across the globe for a decade now tells the untold story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two girls who first meet as sorcery students at Shiz University: the blonde and very popular Glinda and a misunderstood green girl named Elphaba.
Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda’s unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power while Elphaba’s determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, has unexpected and shocking consequences for her future.
Their extraordinary adventures in Oz sees them fulfil their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
Nothing is left unturned here by a star-studded line up of directors and their staff, from the programmes sold at the front door, to the shoes worn by those on stage, everything beams professionalism and brilliance and the entire production team from the set design, choreography, costumes and music were fully deserving of every plaudit thrown their way.
As luck would have it, former Ashburton lass, and NASDA graduate Jane Leonard was on one of her alternate nights of filling the lead role of the green-skinned Elphaba, playing alongside Wellington’s Ellie Neal who fulfilled the role of Glinda.
The pair were, quite simply a match made in heaven. They bounced off each other with the right amount of enthusiasm and humility that you’d expect from such a high-end show and were the deserving shining lights of the night.
It is hard to imagine the show without these two playing their respective roles.
I sympathise with Leonard’s character somewhat, because I too am green. Green-eyed with envy at the incredible talent this former Ashburton girl possesses.
She commanded the stage, her presence unwavering and demanding and her vocal performance was nigh on perfect.
The show’s most well-known song, Defying Gravity is somewhat of a double-edged sword in the fact that it is such a tune that it’s hard not to enjoy, but equally as difficult vocally and requires some skill to perform.
Leonard’s effort, was quite simply put, perfection wrapped up in green and black. So much so there was the sense of a standing ovation as the curtain fell down on the first act with her powerful tones ringing through the ears of the packed house.
The ovation didn’t come then, but it did as she made her curtain call with the large Ashburton contingent in the crowd making sure that others there new just how proud they were of her effort.
Leonard wasn’t the only local on stage though.
The experienced Greta Casey-Solly made an appearance as an interestingly attired mid-wife and her own usual manner exuded confidence and power while young rising star Jack Hanrahan was a prominent figure in the ensemble showing up numerous times with his usual amount of flair and skill.
The only gripe I can muster, and it is a very minimal one, is that at times the abrupt loudness of the very brilliant band drowned out some soloists, and understand their lyrics became a little more difficult than it should have.
This was more an issue in the opening act and only for certain performers (not Leonard) but seemed to have been ironed out by the time the curtain rose again for the second act.
So, take it from this former Oz-Doubter, that Wicked is a show not to be missed.
At around $60 a ticket, it’s well worth the trip up the road for a night of good, quality entertainment and one I’ve got no hesitation in recommending to anyone.