In an inspiring example of the benefits of trying something new, Rotorua Musical Theatre followed up their 70th anniversary with a project they had never tried before: a musical from the Broadway Junior series.

Able to trace their production history all the way back to 1946, Rotorua Musical Theatre are clearly very well experienced with producing full length musicals. Company President Natasha Benfell shared the background that led to the new direction: “Like many small theatre societies, the ‘youth factor’ is something that many of us struggle with - how to get a good ‘buy in’ from students, parents, committees and communities, but most of all finding an appropriate show that caters for younger performers and younger audiences.”

Natasha was well aware of the Broadway Junior shows, but was wary of the unknown factors in tackling a new type of production. “As president of the society, I decided the only way to find out how it was all going to work was going to be jumping in boots and all and seeing what the potential challenges were going to be as we muddled through.”

Perusing through many of the possible shows, Natasha had soon found her pick. “I chose Shrek JR because the themes and messages in the show are so relevant and resonate with a lot of what students are currently facing.”

Marginalised by a tyrannical leader, the fairy tale creatures in Shrek Jr band together, singing their upbeat anthem “Freak Flag.” Another positive message running through the show is Princess Fiona’s acceptance of herself as beautiful; she finally realises that true love does not have to mean being a stereotypical beauty and marrying a Prince.

Natasha had a terrific response to auditions. The cast number was to have been 30, but Natasha had to promptly rethink this: “I cast 57. I decided after so many auditioned (over 80) that I would like to include as many as I could. So, I created the ‘Duloc Choir’ that consisted of around 20 students (aged 9 – 11 years old) and used them as vocal backing in the Duloc scenes and in the finale numbers.”

There were a couple of changes compared to regular shows to boost the show’s success: “We made sure that our show times were child friendly, and the price reflected the (shorter) length of the show as well.“ The company subsequently enjoyed a highly successful run of Shrek JR – the entire season was sold out by the second performance!

Natasha related that one of her favourite parts of directing this show was watching the relationships develop between many of the students, and their keenness to continue working with Rotorua Musical Theatre.

A great example of the positive outcomes of the production came from the experience of a very talented student named Lucy Pepper (pictured), who auditioned for the role of Adult Fiona but narrowly missed out. Natasha described the events that ensued: “Lucy came right back after the show was cast to ask if she could shadow me as a Director, which I thought showed great initiative. She went on to learn the Stage Manager role, and called the show every night. On final night, our Young Fiona was unable to perform and as luck would have it we got the costume to fit Lucy! So, with 24 hours notice, our Stage Manager also had to perform the role of Young Fiona…no pressure! She did an amazing job, and I expect to see big things from her in the future.”

Natasha found support amongst fellow societies that work on shows that cater for young performers. Rotorua Musical Theatre was able to call on Tauranga Musical Theatre’s Toni Henderson, who had staged the show before Rotorua did. Natasha went on to describe this shared experience: “there is something about people who are involved with youth productions – we all just want to see our kids flourish – no egos – just a passion for what we do. I am predicting a huge surge in these shows and societies that use them.”

Now, the question on everybody’s lips is what will Natasha be directing next… Natasha is not ready to give that news away just yet: “Well, the possibilities are endless. The Broadway Junior package is full of great tools for those that have done shows before and those that are tackling it for the first time.”