Global phenomenon Paul Potts will feature in ‘50 Golden Years of Musicals’, coming to Rotorua.
Global phenomenon Paul Potts will feature in ‘50 Golden Years of Musicals’, coming to Rotorua.
A toe-tapping night full of songs and stories from 50 years of musical theatre grace the stage in Rotorua, featuring well-known Welsh tenor Paul Potts.
A line-up featuring some of New Zealand’s finest stage performers will join global phenomenon Paul Potts in ‘50 Golden Years of Musicals’, coming to our city as part of a tour around the country.
The Welsh tenor, who shot to fame by winning Britain’s Got Talent with his performance of Nessun Dorma, will be a special guest, performing some of the greatest musical theatre songs from the past five decades, including Chicago and Starlight Express as well as the song that changed his life.
50 Golden Years of Musicals celebrates the unprecedented musical journey of New Zealand producers Stewart and Tricia Macpherson, with Paul representing the hundreds of international artists they have toured in their stellar careers.
The show will be in Rotorua on April 14, and will feature songs from some of the greatest musicals including Blood Brothers, The Rocky Horror Show, Evita, Starlight Express, Flashdance, Million Dollar Quartet, American Idiot, Pirates of Penzance, Chicago, Jekyll & Hyde and Phantom of the Opera.
Featuring a setlist from the Macphersons’ catalogue of personal favourites, songs such as Time Warp fromRocky Horror,Don’t Cry For Me ArgentinafromEvita,the classicMemoryfromCats, All That JazzfromChicago, the high-energy What A FeelingfromFlashdance, and many more will have audiences singing and reliving many memories.
Bullied at school, singing in the local church choir proved to be a sanctuary for Paul Potts.
Listening to La Boheme at the age of 16, Paul fell in love with opera, a romance that was to set him on a turbulent journey which would eventually lead him to win the first series of Britain’s Got Talent in 2007.
A life-changing event, Paul released his multi-platinum debut album One Chance that year, topped the charts in 13 countries, appeared on Oprah (twice), brought Times Square to a standstill and announced a global arena tour.
Paul is constantly touring, having now performed well over 1000 times across 46 countries. Since Paul’s Britain’s Got Talent win, he has released a further six studio albums.
Paul says there is a real mix of musical theatre shows featured, and that his involvement had been “a bit of a happy accident”.
He says he found out it was the 50th-anniversary event of the Macphersons’ musical journey, and messaged wishing them well. He made a passing comment that he would be coming to Auckland, and they suggested he be part of the show.
‘50 Golden Years of Musicals’ celebrates the unprecedented musical journey of New Zealand producers Stewart and Tricia Macpherson. Photo / Joshua Apperley
Paul says 50 Golden Years of Musicals will feature a lot of upbeat songs, with is something people need after the last few years.
He says he is looking forward to visiting a few places he hasn’t been to in our country before.
“I love coming to New Zealand, I’ve toured New Zealand a couple [of] times.”
Rotorua is a city Paul has already visited before: “Lizzie Marvelly showed me around there the first time I went in 2008. I’ve been a few times, and it always seems to be close to Easter.”
He says the audience is always really receptive and he enjoys getting that reaction from them.
When asked what it is he loves about performing, Paul said the main highlight is doing what he loves and seeing great places while doing it.
