Soloist Dane Moeke performs powerfully at the opening of the Hamilton Arts Festival. Photo / Mark Hamilton
Soloist Dane Moeke performs powerfully at the opening of the Hamilton Arts Festival. Photo / Mark Hamilton
The Hamilton Arts Festival opening night started on the Rhododendron Lawn with a loud and proud shout of ‘Chee Hoo!’
Chee Hoo! Jandals to Jazz Hands is a new work from Cheehoosical, a local musical theatre and Pasifika arts group.
The creative forces behind the show, Benny Marama, Jess RuckNu’u and Iosia Tofilau, will be well-known to local theatre audiences for their performance work. For Chee Hoo! they’ve gone behind the scenes to bring over 40 cast and musicians together to celebrate and share Pacific talent.
With a prime festival spot on opening night, the excitement started building as people settled into their camp chairs and picnic rugs. The atmosphere was friendly and fun with plenty of family groups and friends amongst the audience giving loud support.
Musical Director Nick Braae kicked things off, leading in the Cook Islands drumbeats of the Tukana family before the large ensemble made their lively and colourful entrance.
Iosia Tofilau was MC and a lead performer for the show. Photo / Mark Hamilton
The opening act set the tone for an entertaining evening. Featuring MC Jess Ruck Nu’u wearing a stunning ceremonial dress, she was the centrepiece for an ensemble that sang and danced with joy and enthusiasm.
The audience soon joined in, encouraged by MC’s Benny Marama and Iosia Tofilau to ‘Chee Hoo!’ along with the cast.
As each new number rolled out, the programme had the feel of a good old-fashioned variety show, featuring well-known show tunes from blockbusters like Hairspray, The Lion King, Six and Rent, as well as spoken word and dance.
Soloists were polished and included well-known performers Landy Nonoa Tyrell, Antony Aiono and Dane Moeke along with Ruck-Nu’u, Marama and Tofilau.
The audience enjoys the variety of entertainment on show at Chee Hoo! Photo / Mark Hamilton
Several songs were given a Pacific makeover with local references and language. The audience was invited to come into the fale and enjoy the show, but also challenged to celebrate and promote the diverse voices of Pacific peoples in the community.
The show had wonderful vibrant costumes coordinated by Mania Lakau which ranged from traditional lavalava, puletasi, ei katu and pona tane through to glitzy stage gowns.
While lyrics from a few performers were a little hard to hear on the night and some would’ve benefitted from more time for mic technique, the scale and ambition of the Cheehoosical team is to be applauded.
This was a full-length variety show on the main stage at a major festival. They have created a vehicle for new and emerging Pacific performers to learn and grow alongside established talent, and they seem to have had a lot of fun along the way.
This feels like the start of something pretty cool, I look forward to seeing what’s next.
