A charismatic Rotorua cabaret duo want to teach people about the piano, as well as entertain them when they perform at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival in February next year.
The performers, known as "Sunshine" and "Gorgeous", are Rotorua singers and musicians Fredi Jones and Elizabeth Craig, and along with their
grand piano, Mabel, they make up the cast of "That Piano Show".
The line-up for the festival was announced last month and Elizabeth and Fredi are both pleased to have been selected.
"The feeling is fantastic," Elizabeth says.
"It's really exciting," Fredi says.
The show is a cabaret style musical revue show centred around the piano, where they both sing, play their grand piano, Mabel, and entertain the audience with jokes and improvisation.
"What we hope to do is to take the audience on a journey of what the piano means to Western music," Fredi says.
They describe their show as unique - nothing that the audience would have seen before.
Elizabeth says, so far, in performing at small theatres around the country, the show has had a great response.
"The idea that you could actually make a full show that would be entertaining, funny and profitable with two pianist-singer entertainers seemed a bit far-fetched to people, but it's not."
Elizabeth says for each song they aim to be either "funny or beautiful".
They sing and play a wide variety of songs from Beethoven, to Billy Joel, the Titanic theme song and Cole Porter.
Elizabeth also plays the saxophone, flute and whistles as part of the show.
She says the show is for all ages.
"It's become more of a family show, anybody can relate to it."
But the show is hard work, and requires Elizabeth and Fredi to be focused.
"You have to be on your toes every second when you have two hours of music in your head and the slightest mistake means that you could throw your partner completely off track," Fredi says.
Elizabeth says they came up with the show using "trial and error".
Elizabeth and Fredi met five years ago singing together, then Elizabeth started giving Fredi piano lessons.
Elizabeth is an experienced pianist and singer, and teaches piano, singing, saxophone and flute. She moved to Rotorua from South Africa seven years ago.
Fredi is a student at Victoria University in Wellington, studying classical performance singing. Before university, he was a student at John Paul College in Rotorua and won national singing competitions.
They started performing as a duo in 2008, when they called themselves "After Eight".
They began touring as "That Piano Show" this year, and have performed in Rotorua, Whakatane and Matamata.
The pair have big plans for their show and have been invited to apply to perform in some international festivals.
Elizabeth hopes to perform in small theatres around New Zealand and in schools.
"The response from teenagers has been fantastic," she says and she hopes to inspire young people to take up the piano.
"That Piano Show" has a Christmas show at Mamaku Blue Winery on December 10 and 11. Call 07 332 5840 to book tickets.
A charismatic Rotorua cabaret duo want to teach people about the piano, as well as entertain them when they perform at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival in February next year.
The performers, known as "Sunshine" and "Gorgeous", are Rotorua singers and musicians Fredi Jones and Elizabeth Craig, and along with their
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