Blue Baths Scores Theatre Star for Its Summer Comedy

Rotorua’s Blue Baths Scores Theatre Star for Its Summer Comedy

Blue Baths presents
The Choice
Directed by Jennifer Ward-Lealand
Written by Darlene Mohekey and Jess Sayer
Choreographed by Taiaroa Royal

The Blue Baths are proud to announce that theatre heavyweight Jennifer Ward-Lealand will be taking the directing seat to premiere a weird and wonderful talent show unlike any other. The Choice will be coming to Rotorua’s Blue Baths from 22nd of Jan – 26th Feb 2016. Forget X-Factor, forget New Zealand’s Got Talent, this summer is all about The Choice.

This immersive new show by 2015 Bruce Mason Award winning playwright Jess Sayer (Elevator, Fix, Dexter’s Deep Sea Discovery) and multi-talented creativeDarlene Mohekey (Comedy Cabaret, Dexter’s Deep Sea Discovery) asks you, the live studio audience, to select the winner each night. From rapping to tapping; dog wrangling to boy banding – you’ll be hard pressed to pick a winner from this wacky and wonderful night.

Local born Taiaroa Royal returns to the Blue Baths to choreograph The Choice Co-director of Okareka Dance Company, and an incredible and versatile dancer and choreographer, Royal’s work has seen him travelling NZ and the globe. Stepping, dancing and frolicking onto the Blue Bath stage is a multi-talented cast of six includingBronwyn Turei (Go Girls), Aaron Ward (Nothing Trivial) and Rutene Spooner (Whale Rider) alongside Blue Baths favourites Jason Chasland, Darlene Mohekey and Tainui Kuru. The Choice boasts the most eccentric and hilarious oddball talent Rotorua has ever seen as these fearless actors take on all of the characters you love and those you love to hate!

The illustrious Jennifer Ward-Lealand will be steering the helm of this larger than life show. An accomplished actress, singer and director, Ward-Lealand has performed regularly with renound theatre companies Auckland Theatre Company and Silo. She has graced our screens in many films, including Fracture and Desperate Remedies,and television shows Xena: Warrior Princess, Shortland Street, The Almighty Johnsons and Auckland Daze. Ward-Lealand has an eye for combining music with drama and has toured her own Marlene Dietrich cabaret show Falling in Love Againthroughout NZ and Australia, transporting audiences with glamour, style and her powerful voice. Ward-Lealand has been keen to return to the lakes and laidback lifestyle of Rotorua since performing in the 2013 lakeside concert Come Together.

Last year’s reviewers were brimming with compliments for the fantastic musical, cabaret style shows that Blue Baths has been winning over audiences with year after year.

“This show is a delicious melange of everything that makes showbiz showbiz. There's glamour, there's glitz, there's a heady musical mix, laughs by the bucket load, a touch of pathos, colour, outrageous costumes, inspired lighting and an illusionist trickster who has even the most cynical pondering how could this possibly be?” -Rotorua Daily Post 2014

A stunning art deco venue, originally opened in 1933, Blue Baths offers audiences a decadent night out with a relaxing bar and eatery, cabaret style seating, and a lovely garden surround. The summer shows including 1931 The Show (2012), 1958 The Musical (2013), and Comedy Cabaret (2014) and Comedy Cabaret – it’s a Quack up!(2015) have been major hits, so book now for a night of laughter and fun!

The Choice plays:
Blue Baths, Government Gardens, Rotorua. 8pm, 22nd of Jan – 26th Feb 2016
Cabaret style seating $45-$55, Senior Citizens $35, Grandstands $25, Cheap Tuesday(26th Jan) $25.
Tickets from bluebaths.co.nz, phone (07) 350 2119

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