A Musical History in their own words
"The Society has been in existence for 75 Years. The Rotorua Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society began with performing "The Gypsy Rover" in 1945 as an all male cast.
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| Standing : Ivor Gainsford ; unknown ; Cyril Bowden and S. Oscar Parkinson Seated : John Alexander; Percy Anaru ; Jim Ellis ; Unknown and Phil Steele |
In time the name changed to the Rotorua Operatic Society, then in 1996 this became the Rotorua Musical Theatre Society. Most major productions were staged at the then Majestic Theatre. "Hello Dolly" was the final production at the Majestic in 1971.
Major shows then moved to the newly renovated and enlarged Civic Theatre with "Funny Girl" being the first in 1972.
In 1981 the Operatic Society opened it's own theatre home in Riri Street, called Casa Blanca. The first show here being "On Stage Review"
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| 1980s at Riri Street, Rotorua. |
In 1994 improvements and major construction of a new back-stage area was completed.
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| La Cagelles 1994 |
"With 182 shows 'from glamour to drama' to our credit so far, we aim to give Rotorua audiences pleasure for many more years to come"
Below are posters of a few of those memorable shows :
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| August 1980 |
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| May 1990 |
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| June 1991 |
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| January 2019 |
With thanks to Ursula Schraa and the Committee of the Rotorua Musical Theatre for the information and images supplied.
Copyright of all images belongs to the Rotorua Musical Theatre.
