Our Senior Productions

In 2017 St Peter’s students will raise the bar again with the New Zealand secondary schools premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, a rock musical performed entirely on roller skates. In the story a child’s train set magically comes to life, and the engines compete to become the fastest engine in the world. The underdog, Rusty the steam train, has little chance until he is inspired by the legend of the Starlight Express. He ultimately defeats his arch-rivals Greaseball and Electra and wins the heart of the lovely first-class coach, Pearl.

Auditions for this exciting and unique challenge will be held in September 2016. Get in touch with us if you are interested in being involved.

Director: David Sidwell
Musical Director: Victoria Trenwith
Choreographer: Jenna Bagshaw

The 2016 production of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods was a spectacular success. With a stunning set and costumes, Into the Woods was visually beautiful. The orchestra and singers excelled with Sondheim’s complex and cleverly crafted score, bringing the fractured fairy tale to life.

In the story, a baker and his wife learn they’ve been cursed with childlessness by the witch next door. So they embark on a quest for the objects they need to break the spell, swindling and stealing them from Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack. Everyone’s wish is granted at the end of Act One but then the disastrous consequences of their actions begin to unfold. What begins a lively, irreverent fantasy becomes a lesson about community responsibility and the stories we tell our children.

Director: David Sidwell
Musical Director: Victoria Trenwith

The 2015 production of The Wedding Singer was a highly entertaining night of musical comedy thanks to the boundless energy our students brought to the stage. Based on the hit movie starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, The Wedding Singer is an affectionate look back at the 1980s through a heart-warming story of love lost and found.

Director: David Sidwell
Musical Director: Sam Cleaver
Choreographer: Jenna Bagshaw

Our production of Pippin in 2014 was extremely popular with the audiences — “Sensational! So many wow moments!” “A triumph again,” “Fantastic, flawless and entertaining!” “Replete with talent!” The unique feature of this show was the exciting cirque-style aerial acrobatics that our students mastered.

In the musical, a mysterious performance troupe relates the story of Pippin, a young and dissatisfied prince searching for meaning and fulfilment in life. On his quest he wrestles with the emotional baggage created by a despotic father, a power-hungry half-brother, and a morally bankrupt stepmother. He seeks fulfilment as a soldier, a revolutionary, a generous king, before finding it most unexpectedly in the humble life of a farm labourer and a lover. However, that story is the play within the play. The story of Pippin as told by the troupe is interwoven with the story of the troupe and how the actor who plays Pippin finds his own identity.

Director: David Sidwell
Musical Director: Victoria Trenwith
Choreographer: Jenna Bagshaw

In 2013, St Peter’s students enthralled audiences with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS. With superb makeup and costumes, skillful characterisation and a 21 piece orchestra playing all those great songs live, this show was a delight for those who know CATS so well and those who saw it for the first time. Two hundred and fifty-three kilograms of dry created the alley-way ambience and 1.2kg of gunpowder in pyrotechnic effects made the performances even more memorable.

CATS is a series of vignettes of a society — feline or human — based on poems by T S Eliot. In “The Ad-dressing of Cats,” Eliot observes that cats are very much like human beings. People are fascinated by cats for a multitude of reasons but perhaps most of all because in a mysterious way they allow us more clearly to see ourselves. That is why CATS is loved so dearly by millions of people around the world.

Director: David Sidwell
Musical Director: Victoria Trenwith
Choreographer: Caroline Gill

In 2012 St Peter’s performed the New Zealand premiere of Elton John and Tim Rice’s AIDA. Spectacular sets, costumes, lighting and special effects created a visually stunning backdrop for the talented performances of the students and dancers. “The St Peter’s crew knitted together all the mystique and romance of the opera’s ancient historical roots with the vibrant exuberance of a youthful, modern production, made richer with the benefits of modern technology,” wrote Viv Posselt in the Cambridge Edition’s review of the show.

AIDA is based on Verdi’s classical opera set amongst the pyramids, pharaohs and political unrest of ancient Egypt. It tells a story of forbidden love that blossoms between Aida, an enslaved Nubian Princess Aida, and Radames, captain in the Egyptian army, Radames. Caught in the middle is Radames’ betrothed, princess Amneris. All their lives are forever altered as Aida and Radames are forced to choose love or life.

Director: David Sidwell
Musical Director: Victoria Brown
Choreographer: Caroline Gill