The obligatory sponsor's message was satisfied with the "Big Bad Wolf" being portrayed as a nasty young executive type complete with cellphone and swagger. He killed any allusions to Swan Lake by eating the duck.
My darling sat entranced and so happy that if she had died that night it would have taken the undertakers days to get the smile off her face.
And what a venue. I had been given a full tour of this precious old building previously; framed with huge timbers, as strong as the day they went up - well, perhaps a bit stronger due to the extensive earthquake-proofing.
Plentiful changing rooms, with lots of room backstage for props, and the fly floor above complete with ropes and pulleys from which to swing the angels, fairies and pirates. All very dated but, with the enthusiastic volunteer staff, it still works just fine.
There is even a full-sized grand piano housed in its own little climate-controlled room off the stage, complete with a set of steel tracks built into the floor. There is an ancient generator underneath the building once powered by coal gas and used to light the building and run the electric motors.
Backstage at the opera house is a museum in its own right.
The building was planned to the ideal proportions of a third behind the curtain, a third in the auditorium, and then what would ideally have been a third in the front of house. They skimped and made the front bit smaller - much smaller - so that getting a drink at halftime is a bit of a mission. But Wanganui being the friendly place it is, no one minds a scrum to get an ice cream.
My advice is that next time there is something on at the opera house, go to it. It is well worth the trip from Marton, Hunterville or Waverley - or even Taihape or Hawera, for that matter.
Chris Northover is a former Wanganui lawyer who has worked in the fields of aviation, tourism, health and the environment - as well as designing electric cars and importing photo-voltaic panels.
