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School of Rock stars Joe Kosky and Zane Blumers check out the Civic stage where they will perform later this year.

ENTERTAINMENT

Hunt launched for New Zealand's best school songwriter

9 Jun, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Could the next best song Andrew Lloyd Webber hears be written by a Kiwi kid? Here's how.

Rashmi Pilapitiya (left) and Kalyani Nagarajan star in A Fine Balance, a co-production between NZ-based Indian community theatre company Prayas and Auckland Theatre Company. Photo/Michael Craig.

ENTERTAINMENT

Theatre epic to open in Auckland next week

8 Jun, 2019 5:00am
5 minutes to read

New Zealand theatre companies join forces for epic history-maker like no other seen here.

Picture Book Award finalists in this year's NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults show off the diversity of our people and places.

ENTERTAINMENT

Books for young readers reflect diverse New Zealand

6 Jun, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

The year's best books for New Zealand children and young adults named.

Manoa Teaiwa has looked to the past, and his own family history, to produce the dance work Stolen Stories for the Pacific Dance Festival.

ENTERTAINMENT

Land made of land - the tragic story of one of our Pacific neighbours

3 Jun, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

The story of Banaba Island, told at the Pacific Dance Festival, is likely to shock

Sir Roger Hall believes he is the first Kiwi playwright to be knighted. Photo / Michael Craig

ENTERTAINMENT

Roger Hall's knighthood new chapter for NZ theatre

2 Jun, 2019 8:50pm
3 minutes to read

Playwright Roger Hall honoured for key role in the development of New Zealand drama.

Royal NZ Ballet dancer Katherine Minor soars high in the arms of fellow dancer Paul Mathews. Photo/Ross Brown

ENTERTAINMENT

A ballet for our times

1 Jun, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

A new version of Swan Lake is a ballet for our times, says the Royal NZ Ballet.

Diocesan School for Girls students Eva Wu (left), 13, and Mika Kurosawa, 10, have been selected to play cello at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of an international musical performance.

ENTERTAINMENT

New York beckons for young musicians

1 Jun, 2019 5:00am
2 minutes to read

Two Auckland school pupils will play at New York's Carnegie Hall after competition wins.

Aucklanders Blake Tuke (left) and Jason Yong-Westland perform in Westside Story. Photo / Michael Craig

ENTERTAINMENT

A new Tuke sails onto the international stage

26 May, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

The Tuke family name is known in NZ for gold-medal sailing; now add dancing to the mix.

Anna (left) and Amber Stevenson, pictured with Arika Parker-Wendt, who plays King Julien the Lemur, share equal billing in Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Junior. Photo/Andi Crown

ENTERTAINMENT

(Dis)ability no barrier to moving it in Madagascar

18 May, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Sisters Amber and Anna Stevenson are among a group of kids making NZ theatre history.

Ngā Hine Pūkōrero (from left) Matariki Bennett, Terina Wichman-Evans, Arihia Hall and (front) Manaia Tuwhare-Hoani are the first Australasian team selected to be part of Brave New Voices.

ENTERTAINMENT

Slam dunk! New Zealand poets make history

15 May, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Creative NZ teens score a global first, taking slam poetry - Aotearoa style - to world.

Bronwyn Turei stars in Rants in the Dark, playing a husband and father.

ENTERTAINMENT

Mum's the word for Go Girls star Bronwyn Turei

15 May, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Go Girls star reflects on parenthood and family roles.

Author Fiona Kidman has won this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Award for fiction, 31 years after her first NZ book awards win.

ENTERTAINMENT

Ockham book award winners named

14 May, 2019 10:00pm
3 minutes to read

One of New Zealand's favourite novelists takes top prize at Ockham NZ Book Awards.

Elise McCann, pictured with her Matilda the Musical co-stars and composer Tim Minchin, has continued to champion Roald Dahl through stories and song.

ENTERTAINMENT

Razztwizzler show to leave your chuggling along with Dahl

10 May, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Roald Dahl comes to Auckland in all-singing orchestral show with a touch of Bond.

Abi Taylor turns Theresa Healey into Queen Elizabeth II with a little help from make-up, wigs and Tracy Grant Lord's costuming. Photo/Doug Sherring

ENTERTAINMENT

Regal role a jewel in the crown

4 May, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Actress Theresa Healey: When you're asked to play the Queen, you don't say no.

Artist Ronnie van Hout's Boy Walking will be put up in Potters Park in June.

ENTERTAINMENT

Oh boy! Giant sculpture to make huge impact on city's art

4 May, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Potters Park to get one of the largest public artworks Auckland has seen.

Clinton Hewett, Fresh Gallery coordinator, at The Dawn Raids - Educate to Liberate. Hewett's own family experienced a

NEW ZEALAND

A bleak chapter in NZ: The dawn raids and Operation Pot Black

4 May, 2019 5:00am
7 minutes to read

Gallery exhibition tells of the random stopping in the streets of anyone with brown skin.

Anna Baird and Scott Harding as the dinner party hosts Elizabeth and Colin in Middle Age Spread by Roger Hall, who says he suspects the latest production will mirror the colours of its 1970s' setting.

ENTERTAINMENT

Roger Hall's Middle Age Spread lives on

28 Apr, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Playwright's most celebrated work has been revived for his 80th birthday.

Acclaimed New Zealand painter Judy Millar, pictured in 2016, with the vibrant art she is becoming known and noted in Europe for. Photo/Babiche Martens

ENTERTAINMENT

No of-fence taken at artist's unusual entry

20 Apr, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

NZ artist Judy Millar has her first international survey show - in Switzerland.

The many objects in the Margaret Olley Art Centre. Photo / Supplied

TRAVEL

Murwillumbah: Pleasing patterns of Tweed

19 Apr, 2019 1:00pm
5 minutes to read

The drive to Murwillumbah is almost as great as its gallery, writes Dionne Christian.

Visitors to the Mandela My Life: The Official Exhibition which opens in Auckland this weekend.

ENTERTAINMENT

Mandela and me: Exhibition curator on bringing together a life

13 Apr, 2019 5:00am
5 minutes to read

Mandela My Life: The Official Exhibition opens in Auckland today.

Greg McGee's latest novel is Necessary Secrets, a gripping story about modern family life in New Zealand.

ENTERTAINMENT

Author Greg McGee on what's been keeping him up at night

13 Apr, 2019 5:00am
10 minutes to read

Author Greg McGee on the necessary secrets that kept him awake at night.

Pop-up Globe is going nationwide with a New Zealand tour of

ENTERTAINMENT

Pop-up Globe to hit the road as 'cockpit theatres'

8 Apr, 2019 5:00am
2 minutes to read

Get ready Dunedin, Nelson, Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Hamilton and New Plymouth.

ENTERTAINMENT

Forget Wonky Donkey, here comes Dinky

7 Apr, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Sequel to best-selling Wonky Donkey to be released this year.

Rufus Knight and Mijutie Lepoutre stand in almost nothing, their room at Objectspace Gallery in Ponsonby. Photo/Dean Purcell

ENTERTAINMENT

The art of crafting a living room

6 Apr, 2019 5:00am
6 minutes to read

Art and craft of living central to a first-of-its-kind exhibition at an Auckland gallery.

Dancer Diana Prieto, drummer Alfdaniels Mabingo and musicians Shaab Ramhormozian, Oliver Bramah and Hanna Wiskari make music. Photo/Doug Sherring.

ENTERTAINMENT

Cultural festival creates musical harmony

5 Apr, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Musicians unite in harmony for Auckland International Cultural Festival.

ENTERTAINMENT

Alliance urges creative approach to good health

3 Apr, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Arts and well-being united in creative alliance aimed at making NZ a healthier place.

ENTERTAINMENT

New look, new perspective for city art gallery

30 Mar, 2019 5:00am
5 minutes to read

New-look art gallery poses the question 'are we too big to care?'

Sarah Bisley (left), Conductor of the Aorangi Symphony Orchestra based in Nelson receives the Pro Cultura Hungarica Award in Budapest, Hungary. Photo / Supplied

ENTERTAINMENT

Classical artists unite for peace

29 Mar, 2019 5:00am
2 minutes to read

Classical musicians and singers dedicate concert to Christchurch.

Narrative Muse works like a dating app - only it matches you with the perfect books and movies.

ENTERTAINMENT

New matchmaking service aims to change the stories we tell

23 Mar, 2019 5:00am
5 minutes to read

Fancy a hot date with a book or movie? A new matchmaking site could be perfect for you.

Songs and dance, steeped in South African traditions, help audiences on the epic journey that is A Man of Good Hope. Photo / Keith Pattison

ENTERTAINMENT

Theatre review: A Man of Good Hope - the road is long but well worth taking

18 Mar, 2019 12:02pm
4 minutes to read

"A Man of Good Hope" is musical theatre at its most relevant, writes Dionne Christian.

Artist Max Gimblett, pictured here working this week in Onehunga, will receive an Honorary Doctorate from AUT.

ENTERTAINMENT

Acclaimed NZ artist to receive honorary doctorate

10 Mar, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

One of our most recognised painters to get honorary doctorate 64 years after graduation

It's back to the future for Levi Kereama, the teen star of comedy play Astroman.

ENTERTAINMENT

Astroman rockets back to the 1980s

9 Mar, 2019 5:00am
5 minutes to read

Watching TV was part of the work for the cast of a new comedy which celebrates 80s NZ.

A star-studded cast turns up the volumne for Toku Reo Waiata.

ENTERTAINMENT

Stacey Morrison: I was embarrassed because I couldn't speak my language

9 Mar, 2019 5:00am
5 minutes to read

Hits host Stacey Morrison on what it means for Auckland Arts Fest to foster te reo Māori

The four books short listed in the Ockham NZ Book Awards' Acorn Foundation Fiction prize.

ENTERTAINMENT

Are these New Zealand's best books? Finalists for Ockham book awards named

6 Mar, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

And the finalists are - the short-list for the Ockham NZ Book Awards is announced.

Stan Walker, pictured at the Victory Convention Centre in Auckland, will help to lead a massive outdoor community sing-along to launch Auckland Arts Festival. Photo / Jason Oxenham

ENTERTAINMENT

Hallelujah! Arts festival champions te reo

5 Mar, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Auckland festival unveils new programme to champion te reo through the arts.

Colourful, haunting and evocative, UK art duo Semiconductor use data from real voclanic eruptions and earthquakes, including the Kaikoura quake, to show how the Earth moves.

ENTERTAINMENT

UK duo shaking up art and science to visit New Zealand

2 Mar, 2019 5:00am
6 minutes to read

How to make art from our earthquakes? UK duo set to show in Wellington this autumn.

ENTERTAINMENT

Resilient hero on epic journey of hope

2 Mar, 2019 5:00am
6 minutes to read

How did an 8-year-old boy survive war and famine to become a man of good hope?

Members of the Hobson Street Theatre Company Shadow and Kelly Tunui perform in

ENTERTAINMENT

'That's What Friends Are For' performance is part play, part experiment

26 Feb, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Group will see whether actors can befriend people in the audience in just one hour.

Artist Virginia King exhibits work at Waiheke Island's Sculpture on the Gulf as well as in Venice this year.

ENTERTAINMENT

Walk this way - biennial event gears up to be a triumph again

23 Feb, 2019 5:00am
9 minutes to read

Need to know: How to make the most of Waiheke Island's stunning Sculpture on the Gulf.

Ross McCormack is regarded as one of our most visionary dancers and choreographers; now he's making work inspired by giant sculpture. Photo/Andi Crown

ENTERTAINMENT

As it stands - how giant sculpture inspires top NZ dancer

16 Feb, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Dancer Ross McCormack looks at one of NZ's biggest steel sculptures and wants to move.

Kate McGill joins her own mother Ginette McDonald in the play Joan. Photo/Michael Smith

ENTERTAINMENT

Theatre review: Joan

15 Feb, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Theatre tribute to a fierce and feisty mother will leave you smiling through tears.

Dancers from China and New Zealand star in Hemispheres, a cross-cultural collaboration.

ENTERTAINMENT

Dancers explore common ground

13 Feb, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Cultural exchange between China and New Zealand leads to dynamic new dance tour.

A Superoo room at the Ovolo, Wolloomooloo, in Sydney. Photo / Supplied

TRAVEL

Room Check: The Ovolo, Woolloomooloo

11 Feb, 2019 7:00am
3 minutes to read

Dionne Christian checks into the Ovolo, Woolloomooloo, Sydney.

Author Graeme Simsion says his Rosie books are as much about family and forgiveness as anything. Photo/Rebecca Rocks

ENTERTAINMENT

Three Cheers for Rosie book project

9 Feb, 2019 5:00am
6 minutes to read

Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project was a surprise international hit; book 3 is better.

Art lover Rodney Bowen who is downsizing his art collection and has made some items available for auction at Depot Artspace's Pre-Loved Re-Loved exhibition and sale. Photo / Dean Purcell

ENTERTAINMENT

What do you do with unwanted art? One gallery has a solution

9 Feb, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

The decluttering "Kondo fever" has spread to the New Zealand art world.

Actor Adrian Hooke at Pop-up Globe's Ellerslie base, where he'll mark his 300th performance with the company. Photo/ Christian Tjandrawinata

ENTERTAINMENT

What a piece of work actor's next role will be

6 Feb, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

It might be madness, but there's method in young NZ actor's prep for major role.

The exterior of a house in the Mansfield Gardens becomes a canvas for a production exploring the line between fantasy and reality.

ENTERTAINMENT

Is there a Sasquatch on the loose in Hamilton?

2 Feb, 2019 5:00am
6 minutes to read

Is there a Sasquatch in Hamilton Gardens? Performers aim to track it down.

ENTERTAINMENT

Trailblazing show opens Auckland Pride Festival

30 Jan, 2019 5:00am
5 minutes to read

How far has gay liberation really come? Pride Festival begins with a provocative play.

Kozo Kaos joins the international performers at Auckland's annunal international buskers festival. NZH 26Jan19 - NZH 26Jan19 -

ENTERTAINMENT

Kiwi's life on the cutting edge of knife juggling

26 Jan, 2019 5:00am
5 minutes to read

Devonport's knife juggler Kozo Kaos is slicing through to super stardom

Alexa Wilson curates our first experimental dance week. Photo/Bea Rodrigues

ENTERTAINMENT

Dance week experiments with new ways to move

25 Jan, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Auckland's summer of festivals is joined by a new one celebrating experimental dance.

The Sarjeant Gallery was saved and is ideally placed to be part of a lower North Island art trail. Photo / Supplied

NEW ZEALAND

Why its worth spending millions on arts in the provinces

19 Jan, 2019 5:00am
10 minutes to read

Are Whanganui and Whāngārei about to show NZ how art can transform regional centres?

Former All Blacks captain David Kirk is now a champion of culture. Photo / Photosport

ENTERTAINMENT

Rugby great now a champion of the arts

19 Jan, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Former All Black Captain David Kirk is now a champion of the arts.

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Photo / Getty Images

TRAVEL

Sydney: Fine art days

18 Jan, 2019 12:00pm
5 minutes to read

Art lovers are well served by two Sydney exhibitions, writes Dionne Christian.

Madiba the Musical celebrates the life of visionary South African leader Nelson Mandela with a mix of musical styles, dance and story-telling techniques. Photo / Supplied

ENTERTAINMENT

Musical celebrates the life of Nelson Mandela

16 Jan, 2019 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Madiba the Musical reminds us why looking back is sometimes needed to go forward.

Actor Stephen Butterworth as Richard III in Pop-up Globe's production of Shakespeare's play.

ENTERTAINMENT

Can you prove your blood runs blue?

6 Jan, 2019 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Pop-up Globe has a special offer for Kiwis with links to the notorious English king.

New Zealand-born Graeme Isaako stars in the upcoming musical Aladdin, which plays in Auckland until March. Photo/Brett Phibbs

ENTERTAINMENT

Disney musical star takes his mum on journey of his life

30 Dec, 2018 5:00am
4 minutes to read

He's gone from child performer to Disney musical star - all thanks to mum.

Paul Slade Smith as Willy Wonka. Photo / Brian Geach

TRAVEL

Chockbuster hit tipped as dark delight

24 Dec, 2018 5:00am
4 minutes to read

The Candy Man - aka Willy Wonka - is about to bring his sweet touch to Sydney.

Paula Morris is a novelist and short story writer and the 2018 Katherine Mansfield Fellow. Photo/Michael Craig.

ENTERTAINMENT

Meet the 2018 Katherine Mansfield Fellow

12 Dec, 2018 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Christmas comes early for the recipients of prestigious arts and book awards.

Britomart's Christmas art work, by Charlotte Graham, stays away from traditional seasonal decoration. Photo/ Joe Hockley

ENTERTAINMENT

Putting the 'art' into Britomart

9 Dec, 2018 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Huge Christmas artwork unveiled at Britomart but no reindeer, snow or Santa to be seen.

Sang-Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee are the winners of this year's Portage Ceramics Award. Photo / Courtesy of Te Uru

ENTERTAINMENT

Korean ceramicists win major NZ award

3 Dec, 2018 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Korean artists Sang-Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee never gave up on winning pottery prize.

Knitter Alice Gumbley with a nativity scene she knitted. Photo / Chris Steel

ENTERTAINMENT

Uplifting ride on nonexistent mule

3 Dec, 2018 5:00am
3 minutes to read

Just how did the Donkey ended up in the Christmas story?

The Jordan Luck Band will perform at Music in Parks.

ENTERTAINMENT

When music hits parks, things can go very right - and a bit wrong

1 Dec, 2018 12:00pm
9 minutes to read

What's it like playing in a park on a hot sunny day? We asked performers how they cope.