The first in a series profiling stars of the Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson show about to open in Auckland.

Does he like peeling onions? Michael Hurst looks bemused by the question - he is eating a home-made salad of piquant appearance - so he pauses, fork in mid-air, and tilts his head.

Take a look at some of the acts that will be performing at the 2014 NZ Festival.

The Mozart Requiem may have made for an almost full house on Thursday night as Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's 2013 Choral Masterpiece, but the concert's inclusion of two Haydn works was very much appreciated.

You could just be mesmerised by the sheer physical beauty of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Swan Lake. It is the stunning production's fourth season, its best ever and a perfect celebration of the company's 60th anniversary year.

Some of Bollywood's top stars are heading to Auckland.

There's a tantalising connection between Jazz Age performance legend Josephine Baker and the Old Folks Ass.

Dionne Christian previews a school holiday course of film-making fun for youngsters with ambitions.

I first saw this clowning classic several years ago, and remembered it fondly enough to want to take the resident 8-year-old this time around.

Sir Humphrey Appleby, the consummate civil servant with a patrician disdain for the delusions of democratic government, is an almost perfect comic creation.

What an inspired idea, devising a staging of The Odyssey with teenagers and children.

Everything from slice-of-life realism through to surrealistic flights of fancy are on display in the second week of the Short+Sweet Festival.

It is never difficult to find contemporary events that point to the relevance of Titus Andronicus, but Shakespeare's reflections on the extremes of human cruelty are given particular poignancy by the recent murder of a young soldier on a London str

Australian actress Maggie Kirkpatrick is looking forward to showing off some of her wicked side to Kiwi audiences.

Patua means "to hit, kill, subdue, ill-treat", and writer-director Renae Maihi bravely takes on the subject of child abuse in the 75 nicely paced minutes of this, her second play.