Overview
The nation's favourite love to hate, hate to love soap opera, Shortland Street, has been gaining a lot of attention recently. Mostly due to the incredible cliffhanger now affectionately known as 'penis gate'. If you have no idea what we're talking about, treat yourself over here.
Rolling into its 25th year, the prime time serial is set to be given another lease of life with its first foray on the stage, as a musical. The appropriately titled Shortland Street - The Musical is the brainchild of Guy Langford, a writer and composer whose connection to the show runs deep; his father was the first set designer way back in 1992.
The live show promises to include all the essential elements of a Shorty episode: killers on the loose, medical calamities, forbidden love and a Christmas curse. Langford has carefully slotted songs like Not In Guatemala Now, Stuck In A Love Triangle and Cliffhanger into the plot, as well as iconic characters from the classic era. Speculation is rife that actual stars from the actual show will even make an appearance— the question remains whether it will be Dr Ropata, Rachel, Lionel, Rangi, Kirsty or even The Ferndale Strangler.
As part of the Auckland Arts Festival, Shortland Street - The Musical will be presented alongside RAW: Projects in Development, an initiative that features artists' projects in different stages of development. Rather than presenting an overly polished product, RAW gives attendees an opportunity to get an insider's view of the various processes, artistic practices and hard work that go into creating a production.
Shortland Street - The Musical will take place at Herald Theatre on Tuesday 14 March at 6.30pm. The one-hour performance will be followed by a question and answer session. Entry by Koha.