Review: Raising the Titanics at Tapac

Quick, someone get this band an agent. A homage to the Maori showbands of the 1960s, the Titanics have all the harmonies, musicality, glamour and humour of their heroes.

It's a dream line-up for the play's premiere outing: composer Tama Waipara, aka Sir+Plus without his Requirements; Francis Kora of the band of brothers, Kora; Bronwyn Turei and Miriama McDowell - whose distinctive voices are as beautiful as they are; and drummer Wesley Dowdell, as the lone Pakeha.

Choreographer Vicky Haughton's sharp, well-rehearsed moves help wind back the clock in the Smackbang production, as do the sleek bob and beehive hairstyles, and excellent period costumes by newcomer Maria Kingi.

The glitzy 1970s sparkle-trimmed ruffle suits and off-the-shoulder floating pastel shifts are particularly eye-catching.

The only fictional thing about the Titanics is their back story. Penned by Albert Belz and told in flashbacks, it's a riff on a tale about as old as that of "boy meets girl": band gets together, band tours, band breaks up. Vietnam turns out to be the Titanics' Waterloo, er, iceberg.

Belz (Te Karakia) has lightened up the serious whanau-drama genre into loosely plotted frothy soap opera which occasionally sacrifices character for crisis - but it's no matter, as the story is little more than a vehicle for the performance.

Politics are avoided; a send-up of Pokarekare Ana, with the shambling Aki (Waipara) playing a dusky maiden, shows only the band's enjoyment of Aki's ridiculousness, not the potential problems of making fun of one's own culture in front of outsiders.

The actors, directed by Raymond Hawthorne, shift between youth and retirement age with remarkable ease, especially the comic McDowell and poignant Dowdell.

Turei has an unusually easy and naturally assured stage presence, and Waipara and Kora play up to being "hoha blimmin' country bumpkins" with relish.

Aroha, the offspring of two band members, is a more two-dimensional and less sympathetic character - a pushy journalist with paint-by-numbers solo mother issues - but Shortland Street's shiny-haired Faye Smythe makes a good stage debut.

An enjoyable if slight frolic into showband history.

What: Raising the Titanics.

Where and when: Until June 27, Tapac, Western Springs, then to Hawkins Theatre, Papakura, July 1-3.