Show goes on for Rob Guest, ageless musical entertainer

Rob Guest is a musical theatre heart-throb with many female fans, but ask him for advice on how to meet women and he gives a big laugh.
The twice-married, now-separated singer with two teenage children said he had once hosted the Man o Man television show in Australia and "saw things which would scare the hell out of you if you thought you knew how women tick".
"They know all the pick-up lines. I used to get sweaty palms watching blokes make blunders and wanted to tell them `don't go there'."
Guest won't disclose his age because he doesn't want to get typecast into aged roles on stage.
But the 370 people who packed his show in the Capitaine Bougainville Theatre at Forum North in Whangarei last night would agree he is looking very good for a guy who sang in the band Shore Thing which won the North Shore Battle of the Bands and the Four Square Easter Show Talent Quest in 1968.
Guest was born in England and moved to New Zealand when he was a youngster.
He went to school in Thames and got into music when his family moved to Auckland. He was the vocalist for the popular group In-Betweens and saw the Rolling Stones perform at Western Springs in the early 1970s.
Then he went solo and released a string of singles before making it bigtime in Sydney as the star of the long-running musicals Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera.
"My roots are in rock 'n roll and I'll never forget it. But I was smitten with musical theatre - I loved it so much. I'm fortunate I found my niche," he said.
Guest is back touring New Zealand with 28 shows to "bring back the memories" of those shows and his acclaimed roles in other musicals such as West Side Story, Sound of Music and Chess.
On stage with him last night was 16-year-old Whangarei songbird Shaan Antunovich, accompanying him in a couple of duets and singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables solo.
He said he had young singers also performing with him in other centres because it enabled him to sing duets from Phantom and Beauty and the Beast.
"I like to try to help talent as much as I can," he said.
Told Salmonella Dub would be churning out heavy bass and drums to entertain up to 800 reggae fans in the Forum North Exhibition Hall while his show was on, Guest looked perturbed.
But once assured his theatre would be soundproof, he laughed and said: "We might bring them up and do a set with them."
Guest has a day off today and is eager to do some sightseeing with his musical director, Kellie Dickerson, whose piano provides the sole accompaniment to his show.
The tour will resume tomorrow with a performance in Kerikeri.