John's first and rare appearance on stage was in 1973 during Amdram's production of the Merry Widow. It wasn't a starring role, "just one of the general chorus".
"From the Merry Widow I did floor electrics for Guys and Dolls. There was a group of us who would finish one show then go do another show with another group."
In 1974 he was offered a job with the soon-to-be formed council halls department.
"They were combining the opera house and the memorial hall to reduce staffing costs and to provide some expertise in the technical fields," John explains.
The irony of those beginnings is not lost on him.
"Yes, that's exactly what they're doing now."
A re-organisation of city event management by council meant Mr Richardson needed to apply for the new job, but he settled on redundancy instead.
"I did not reapply. I have been there, had the heart attack, bought the T-shirt."
He walked out of his office for the final time this month.
He began as manager at the opera house when the halls department was fully established in 1975.
"When I took over managing 28 years ago the opera house was pretty dreary, pretty rundown. It was just another place in town basically. Council was very much in two minds to just close it down.
"In those days it was very much a hands-on job for the management. It was myself, one other part-time back stage person, and a part-time box office person." Mr Richardson controlled the lighting, manned the box office, brought in shows and acts, and most things in between.
It was about then that the Friends of the Opera House was formed - a group of volunteers with a passion for the old building and what it stood for.
"Having that group alongside allowed me to take ideas and develop them ... because I had a source of alternative funding - the ratepayers couldn't afford it.
"The Friends were a group that could go to the lotteries board and other philanthropic trusts and say 'hey we want to do this can we have some money?'
"As a result of that we put a full sprinkler system in, changed the orchestra pit, took the theatre back to the original layout of seating, put the bar and sweet stall in and developed a reasonable in-house lighting facility."
Years later Mr Richardson was made a life member of the Friends group. It was presented to him on stage by the late Rob Guest during the iconic Kiwi showman's last performance at the opera house.
Big names, funny stories
John has seen plenty of big acts and stars, and is on first name terms with many of them.
Windsor Davies, Su Pollard, Jim McNaught, Billy T James, Blerta, Hello Sailor, Max Merritt, John Rowles, the Irish Rovers "when they were the Irish Rovers before they split", are just some of the names he rattles off.
Windsor Davies and Su Pollard are among his favourites. "They treated everybody as a team."
He recalls Mr Davies as a big drinker.
"We spent several nights at the Rutland. Yes there was plenty of drinking and hangovers."
Then there was the infamous incident with the Russian Ballet.
"We took dancers from the Russian Ballet to Wellington on a bus so they could catch an early flight. When we got to Wellington two of the dancers decided to abscond. We don't know too much of what happened, they couldn't be found. Just vanished."
Luckily there was no fallout or blame levelled at the opera house management.
"That was when we were working with Michael Edgley International. We did several concerts with them where they were playing Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Wellington and Whanganui - and that was it."
Going royal
The royal part of the opera house name came in 2000.
The late city councillor Gerald McDouall and Mr Richardson teamed up to seek a royal charter.
"Gerald did most of the work which we started in about 1998 and it was eventually granted in view of the fact it was built to commemorate Queen Victoria. It has given the opera house an international prestige but I don't think it means a hang of a lot to the locals."
Whanganui is one of only five opera houses worldwide that has a royal charter - "Covent Garden is the one everyone knows."
Another reason for the opera house's international prestige is its acoustics.
"The acoustics are renowned - best in the southern hemisphere. There is supposedly a place that is either as good or better and that's in South Africa."
He's a little concerned that work done in recent years on earthquake strengthening may have altered the sound slightly.
"It's a bit early to say what the earthquake strengthening alterations have had on the acoustics. There has definitely been some change.
"They took place last year and this. We haven't been back in fulltime operation long enough for me to pinpoint what the changes are - and of course now I'm not there."
The building is in good shape though. The last major exterior paint was done several years ago but has been touched up since and was good for at least another seven years.
"With a lot of the work that's been going on a lot of the interior areas have been totally repainted. And of course it's just been reroofed as well. That was all part of the earthquake work."
The seating too has been fully refurbished - with the seats having been stripped back to bare frames and rebuilt from the ground up.
"Basically, it's had a total refit inside. A lot of that was done from grant money from government. I leave it in better nick than I found it."
Accomplishments
Asked about his proudest achievement, Mr Richardson says he likes to think he's given the opera house a heartbeat again.
"Bringing it back to where it used to be in the 50s through 70s ... just simple things like reopening the sweet stall and having the bar created. The bar is not a profit-making facility, it's just out to enhance the evening's enjoyment."
Another achievement was when council said no to electronic ticketing.
"Derek Matthews and myself took the leap - Derek was the Friends president at the time - to join with the NZ Rugby Union and install electronic ticketing.
"The rugby union eventually got out of that and we purchased the system from them - and this was all the Friends, the council wouldn't have anything to do with it, the Friends funded it.
"Electronic ticketing now supplies 80 per cent of the funds that the Friends use for restoration work and improvements."
This includes expenditure such as the new $400,000 sound system.
"You as a promoter pay us an amount to sell your tickets. Currently professional shows pay $2 a ticket. So it's provided an ongoing income without the need of the Friends to go
cap in hand to the community for funds."
Patronage
One area Mr Richardson has not been able to fix up is declining sales.
"Patronage has unfortunately dropped back. It's very hard to get a 700-800 capacity audience. There's not the discretionary money out there. Sixty-five per cent of the
Whanganui population are on a pension or benefit and they simply can't afford $160 for a pair of tickets."
He said there was also much more competition for the leisure and entertainment dollar and also theatre-goers' expectations were higher.
"People like going to live events but they want it to be as good as you get on You Tube with all the flash fancy lighting. We had the Ten Tenors - they had a massive lighting rig - cost $600,000 for their New Zealand tour.
"It didn't do anything for their voices, it was just a presentation thing. The audience would have enjoyed it just as much without that and you could have reduced the price of the ticket and got more people."
He remembers when Amdram shows would attract 6000 people over the course of a show's season. Now they struggle to reach half that.
Hopes
When it comes to the future of the opera house Mr Richardson is philosophical.
"I hope the momentum is not lost that we've gained over the last 20 years - staying on top of the maintenance and keep bringing in shows.
"I hope that under the new structure the opera house doesn't get relegated to being just another venue. It's going to be paired with the memorial hall. The memorial hall's got three venues. So the opera house becomes the fourth venue.
I could get very political but I'm not going to do that."
He says he will maintain an interest in the opera house and with the Friends group.
"I will maintain an interest but we are shifting from Whanganui. We are in the process of going through the final stages of purchasing a business in Hastings.
" ... the new people need to be given an opportunity to develop on their own rather than living with a ghost."
Which brings us to Frank Sayring.
Ghosts
"I have to be very careful because family are still alive. Frank is an ex-manager. He dropped dead during an Amdram production. He had a heart attack and died back stage.
"He's basically never left. My encounters with Frank have been when I have been there at three or four in the morning, but I haven't done that sort of stint in a very long time.
Improvements in electronics have made things much easier than they used to be.
"Everything that goes wrong in the place is blamed on Frank - every unexplained thing that goes wrong. I have never seen him - although I have been told other people have.
"Every good theatre has to have a ghost."
And with that John Richardson leaves - as theatrical as ever.