The Star: May 25, 2017

The Star 35
Theatre
KIWI OWNED & OPERATED
• By Georgia O’Connor-
Harding
GROWING UP with
parents dedicated to
running movie theatres
throughout Canterbury
meant there was no escape
from a musical childhood
for Nickie Wellbourn.
Rodgers and Hammenstein’s
Oklahoma!,
The Sound of Music, State
Fair, and The King and I
were all popular musicals
Wellbourn, 56, grew up
watching at her parents’
theatres.
Her parents Monica and
Alan Wellbourn screened
movies at the old Darfield
community hall, the
former Vogue Theatre at
the Barrington shopping
centre, the Hollywood
Theatre, before it was taken
over by Masters Theatres,
and Sunnyside Hospital.
Singing now as a
mezzo soprano in a
show featuring some
of composers Richard
Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein II’s best
songs has brought back
fond memories for the
Spreydon resident.
Wellbourn will perform
as part of a chorus of
more than 100 in Showbiz
Christchurch’s first traditional
concert in a major
theatre – An Evening of
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Classics.
“This one has no
costumes as such, no
choreography, it is just
singers and it proves
the quality of voices we
have in our community,”
Wellbourn said.
Having been involved
with in Showbiz Christchurch
productions for more
than 30 years Wellbourn
said it was surprising the
company had not done a
concert like this before.
Wellbourn remembers
her first audition for the
company very well, after
her mother who performed
in Showbiz Christchurch’s
inaugural production The
Belle of New York in 1938,
insisted she audition as
Nancy for Oliver! in 1980.
“I started to sing this part
and the pianist was not in
the same key as me or at the
same time because I had
never done this before . . .
then I was given a script to
read and I read all the stage
descriptions as well because
I had never read a script
before,” she said.
She may not have made
the cut on that occasion,
but several years later when
more “attuned to theatre”
she debuted for the company
as Matron “Mama”
Morton in the 1987 production
of Chicago.
“That established me in
the circle of theatre as far as
I am concerned,” she said.
Before she established
herself as a performer,
Latest Christchurch news at www.
SPECIAL: Nickie Wellbourn with her mother Monica Wellbourn, 95, who
influenced her to get into theatre. Nickie features in the chorus for Showbiz
Christchurch’s new production An Evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein at the
Isaac Theatre Royal.
PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER
From watching movies
to performing on stage
MAJOR ROLE: Nickie Wellbourn has played the role
of Matron “Mama” Morton twice for Showbiz Christchurch
describing it as her “coming of age role” in
the theatre scene.
Wellbourn initially had
dreams to become one of
The Andrews Sisters when
growing up.
But that was before her
father, who served as a
cinema projectionist for
the Royal New Zealand
Air Force during the Guadalcanal,
Solomon Islands,
campaign, in World War
2, sat her down at eightyears-old
and told her she
could not just join up and
be a singer.
Wellbourn said in her
time at Showbiz Christchurch,
she has seen the
company evolve from community
theatre to “close to
the statue of Broadway”.
She will next play the
role of Sister Mary Lazarus
in Showbiz’ next production
Sister Act and will be
required to rap – something
she has never done
before.
•An Evening of Rodgers
and Hammerstein
Classics will run at
the Isaac Theatre
Royal May 26-
May 28. To book
tickets go to http://
isaactheatreroyal.co.nz
.kiwi
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Thursday May 25 2017
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