Napier Operatic Society
# Napier Operatic Society

Napier Operatic Society (often abbreviated as NOS) is an amateur theatre society based in Napier, New Zealand. Established in 1887, Napier Operatic Society is the second oldest-existing theatrical society in New Zealand, and is nationally renowned for its critically acclaimed professional-quality productions.

The society is based at The Tabard Theatre, which underwent extensive renovations completed in April 1994 – an extended rehearsal room, wardrobe hire, workshop, and restaurant-theatre complex were completed during the 5-year project. The Napier Operatic Society produces multiple productions a year, and has done a major stage-show every year since 1887, with the exception of several years throughout the 20th century during overseas conflict and the aftermath of natural disaster.

## History

The earliest known theatre company in Napier was the Napier Theatre Co., which in 1883, along with the Napier Musical Society and the Napier Amateur Drama Club combined to create the Theatre Royal. The Theatre Royal made its debut with the musical Trial by Jury, and out of this the Napier Operatic Society was born.

Most of the early productions were Gilbert and Sullivan plays, with the first production at the new Napier Municipal Theatre being A Greek Slave in 1912. The 1800 capacity of the Napier Municipal Theatre was noted to have been "frequently taxed to the uttermost", especially by people who drive in from the country areas. Due to the onset of World War I, The Blue Moon was the last production by Napier Operatic Society until 1921.

The 1931 Napier earthquake caused significant damage to the Napier Municipal Theatre, contributing to Napier Operatic's hiatus until 1937. A Special General Meeting was held on 14 October 1937 where it was unanimously decided to revive the society. The first production in over 7 years, Rio Rita, was performed at the newly built Napier Municipal Theatre. Since then, with the exception of during World War II until 1953, there has been at least one production put on by Napier Operatic Society every year.

Napier Operatic Society has staged many hit musicals in recent years, including Les Misérables, 42nd Street, Chicago, Cats, Beauty and the Beast, Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia!, and Evita. Napier Operatic Society have since begun staging larger productions that typically would be seen at the Napier Municipal Theatre at the Tabard Theatre, such as Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Blood Brothers.

### Productions: 1887–present

| 1887–1953 |
| - |
| 1887 | The Sorcerer | 1888 | No production. | 1889 | The Mikado Iolanthe | 1890 | Rip Van Winkle |
| 1891 | The Mikado Iolanthe Madame Favart | 1892 | No production. | 1893 | Rip Van Winkle Les Cloches de Cornville | 1894–1907 | No productions. |
| 1908 | The Gondoliers | 1909 | The Mikado | 1910 | The Geisha | 1911 | The Runaway Girl |
| 1912 | A Greek Slave | 1913 | Toreador | 1914 | Miss Hook of Holland | 1915 | The Blue Moon |
| 1916–1920 | No productions. | 1921 | The Geisha | 1922 | No production. | 1923 | A Country Girl |
| 1924 | Florodora | 1925–1927 | No productions. | 1928 | The Arcadians | 1929 | The Sunshine Girl |
| 1930 | Our Miss Gibbs | 1931–1937 | No productions. | 1938 | Rio Rita | 1939 | The Belle of New York |
| 1940 | Boots and All | 1941–1953 | No productions. |
| 1954–1999 |
| 1954 | Chu Chin Chow | 1955 | Desert Song |
| 1956 | The New Moon | 1957 | Oklahoma! | 1958 | Love from Judy | 1959 | The Vegabond King |
| 1960 | White Horse Inn | 1961 | Kismet | 1962 | The Music Man | 1963 | Where's Charley The Merry Widow |
| 1964 | The Maid of the Mountains | 1965 | Annie Get Your Gun | 1966 | Amahal and the Night Visitors | 1967 | Little Mary Sunshine |
| 1968 | The Sound of Music | 1969 | Camelot | 1970 | Pink Champagne | 1971 | South Pacific |
| 1972 | Oliver! | 1973 | Fiddler on the Roof | 1974 | My Fair Lady | 1975 | Man of La Mancha |
| 1976 | Pirates of Penzance Music Hall | 1977 | Oops Titipu Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat | 1978 | Oh, What a Lovely War! | 1979 | The Great Waltz Grease |
| 1980 | Jesus Christ Superstar | 1981 | HMS Pinafore Hans Christian Andersen | 1982 | Cabaret Oklahoma! | 1983 | Annie |
| 1984 | Man of La Mancha | 1985 | The Gingerbread Man Chicago | 1986 | Mack and Mabel | 1987 | The Sorcerer Nostalgia |
| 1988 | Oliver! An Evening with Gershwin | 1989 | Grease | 1990 | The Fantastiks Evita | 1991 | Tom Jones Me and My Girl |
| 1992 | Jerome Kern, directed by Shirley Jarrett. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, directed by Phil Turley. | 1993 | Nunsense, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. West Side Story, directed by Rob Hickey. A Place on Earth, directed by Dick Johnstone. | 1994 | Canterbury Tales, directed by Dick Johnstone. Cabaret, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. | 1995 | Les Misérables, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM A Slice of Saturday Night, directed by Rob Hickey. Chess, directed by Jane Pierard. |
| 1996 | Stepping Out, directed by Tessa-May Brown. Love off the Shelf, directed by John Collier & John Matthews. | 1997 | 42nd Street, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. | 1998 | The Pirates of Penzance, directed by Tessa-May Brown. Dirty Weekends, directed by John Collier & John Matthews. | 1999 | The Mikado, directed by Tessa-May Brown. Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by David Sidwell. Showstoppers, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. |
| 2000–present |
| 2000 | HMS Pinafore, directed by Tessa-May Brown. West End to Broadway, directed by Stephen Robertson. | 2001 | Sweeny Todd, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. Return to the Forbidden Planet, directed by John Collier & John Matthews. Moby Dick, directed by Andrea Taafe. | 2002 | Blood Brothers, directed by Geoff Turkington. Les Misérables, directed by David Sidwell. Some Enchanted Evening, directed by Tessa-May Brown. | 2003 | Buddy, directed by David Sidwell. Annie, directed by Sylvia Richardson. Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Sonya Aifai. |
| 2004 | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, directed by Valda Peacock. The Odd Couple, directed by Sylvia Richardson. | 2005 | My Fair Lady Gypsy, directed by Sylvia Richardson. The Full Monty, directed by Chris Davidson. | 2006 | The Threepenny Opera, directed by William Waitoa. The Boy Friend, directed by Tessa-May Brown. Back to the 80's, directed by Sonya Aifai. | 2007 | Beauty and the Beast, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. Cats, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. |
| 2008 | The Producers, directed by Margot Minett & Joanne Stevens. Thoroughly Modern Millie, directed by Tessa-May Brown. Urinetown, directed by Chris Davidson. | 2009 | Dinner with the Duke If You're Irish An ANZAC Tribute Miss Saigon, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. | 2010 | The Wedding Singer, directed by Sonya Aifai. Bad Girls, directed by Wendy Revell. | 2011 | 42nd Street, directed by Rob Hickey. Dusty, directed by Wendy Revell. |
| 2012 | Spamalot Chicago, directed by Wendy Revell. That's Showbiz, directed by Oliver Christopherson. | 2013 | Hairspray, directed by Wendy Revell. The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Gillian Davies, QSM. | 2014 | Young Frankenstein, directed by Sylvia Richardson. Dreamgirls, directed by Sonya Aifai. Mamma Mia!, directed by Wendy Revell. | 2015 | Evita, directed by James McCaffrey. The Addams Family, directed by Rob Hickey. Forbidden Broadway, directed by Dave Richardson. |
| 2016 | Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Anthony Collier & Reiss Jenkinson. Barnum, directed by Mark Oldershaw. Nunsense, directed by Anthony Collier & James McCaffrey. | 2017 | Mary Poppins, directed by Wendy Revell. Blood Brothers, directed by Anthony Collier. A Great Face for Radio, directed by Wendy Revell. | 2018 | Oliver!, directed by James McCaffrey. Chess, directed by Sarah Rogers. | 2019 | Les Misérables, directed by Lisa-Jane Easter. Avenue Q, directed by Rob Hickey. |
| 2020 | Grease, directed by William Waitoa. | 2021 | Sister Act, directed by Wendy Revell. | 2022 | The Boy Friend, directed by Kerry Unsworth. Into the Woods, directed by Wendy Revell. |

### Society presidents: 1890–present

| 1890 J. D. Ormand | 1893 J. W. Carlile | 1910 W. Simm | 1924–1929 Dr. R. I. Sutton | 1930–1938 J. W. Cargill |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1939–1954 J. Harris | 1955 K. Douglas | 1956 A. E. Herniman | 1957–1958 J. S. Henney | 1959–1961 E. A. G. Collier |
| 1962–1966 P. Cox | 1967 R. A. Clement | 1968–1970 W. Tolhurst | 1971 H. N. Unsworth | 1972–1973 J. Collier |
| 1974 H. Unsworth | 1975–1983 W. O. Beckett | 1984–1987 Mr. F.T. Twyford | 1988–1991 Mr. P. F. Shepherd | 1992–1995 Mr. J. A. Briggs |
| 1996–1999 Mr. N.L. Page | 2000-2005 Mrs. L.F. Reid | 2006–2009 Mrs. L.D. Reid | 2010–2012 Mrs. S.R. Pardoe | 2012–2016 Mr. M. Collier |
| 2017–2018 Mrs. T. Brown | 2019–20 Mrs. A. Oldershaw | 2020– Mrs. S.J. Ericksen |

### Honorary life members

| Mr. C.W. White* | Mr. P. Sorrell* | Mrs. M. Sorrell* | Mr. E.C. Collier* |
| - | - | - | - |
| Mrs. H. Collier* | Mr. R.B. Wright* | Mrs. W. Quarry* | Mr. R. Houston* |
| Mr. J. Collier* | Mr. C. Pritchard* | Mrs. D. Unsworth | Mr. A. Jones |
| Mr. D. Hurley | Mr. F. Twyford | Mr. B. Browne | Mrs. L. Browne |
| Mrs. R. van de Ven* | Mr. L. Robertson | Mr. C. Allen | Mr. B. Nathan* |
| Mr. I. Reid | Mr. P. Shepherd | Mr. G. Ace* | Mr. J. Briggs |
| Miss G. Davies QSM | Mrs. L. Reefman | Mr. P. Eade | Mr. J. Matthews* |
| Mr. J. Morgan* | Mrs. L. Reid | Mrs. L. Jones | Mrs. A. L. Davies |
| Mrs. T. M. Brown | Mrs. S. D. Aifai | Mr. N. L. Page* | Mrs. S. J. Page |
| Mrs. C. R. Kenah |

"*" denotes deceased

## Theatre School

The Napier Operatic Society Theatre School (often abbreviated as NOS Theatre School) was one of the first youth theatre programmes to have been established by an existing amateur musical theatre society in New Zealand. Under the direction of Sonya Aifai since 2000, the theatre school has trained aspiring actors by casting them in yearly productions.

The Napier Operatic Society Theatre School has been nationally recognised, including in 2017 when it was awarded the Excellence in Acting award at the Junior Theatre Celebration in Auckland. Subsequently, in both 2018 and 2019, theatre school alumnus Jackson Stone was awarded Outstanding Male Performer two years in a row for his roles as Donkey in Shrek Jr., and as Don Lockwood in Singin' in the Rain Jr.. Stone, alongside of other notable theatre school members Marcus Allan, Maia Driver, and Renee Seymour, represented NOS and New Zealand at the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta in 2020.

Founding members of the Theatre School have gone on to perform directing roles on a local and national level; including Alice Pardoe in stage management for Taki Rua, Anne Aifai in choreography, Rachael McKinnon in directing, and Anthony Collier in directing and the establishment of Napier Theatre Company.

### Theatre School productions: 2000–present

| 2000 | Establishment of Theatre School. | 2001 | Little Red Rockin' Hood, directed by Sonya Aifai. | 2002 | The Halfmen of O, directed by Jenny Wake. | 2003 | Peter Pan – The Crock Rock Musical, directed by Sonya Aifai. |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2004 | The Snow Queen, directed by Jenny Wake. | 2005 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, directed by Sonya Aifai. | 2006 | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, directed by Jenny Wake. | 2007 | Aladdin Jr., directed by Sonya Aifai. |
| 2008 | Mulan Jr., directed by Sonya Aifai. | 2009 | Puss'n'Kiwiboots, directed by Linstead Allen. | 2010 | A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Jenny Wake. | 2011 | High School Musical Jr., directed by Sonya Aifai. Cinders in the 60's, directed by Sonya Aifai. |
| 2012 | No production. | 2013 | Bugsy Malone, directed by Samantha Grant-Smith & Edina McFarland. | 2014 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, directed by Sonya Aifai. | 2015 | The Wizard of Oz, directed by Anthony Collier. |
| 2016 | Annie Jr., directed by Rachael McKinnon. | 2017 | Beauty and the Beast Jr., directed by James Wright. | 2018 | Shrek Jr., directed by Sonya Aifai. | 2019 | Singin' in the Rain Jr., directed by Rachael McKinnon. |
| 2020 | Seussical Jr., directed by Jed Blundell. | 2021 | The Lion King Jr., directed by Sonya Aifai. | 2022 | Elf Jr., directed by Marcus Allan. | 2023 | TBA. |
