News Thursday, November 28, 2013
www.guardianonline.co.nz
■ ASHBURTON VARIETY THEATRE
Young team selected to control Chicago BY SUSAN SANDYS
SUSAN.S@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
The Variety Theatre of Ashburton has secured high profile Christchurch musical director Luke Di Somma for its 2014 production Chicago. Mr Di Somma, of Christchurch, is musical director of The Mikado, staging at The Court Theatre, and chief conductor of the Christchurch Youth Orchestra, and regularly works with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. He will join a new director for the Variety Theatre, Regan Jackson of Christchurch, who has been trained by a former company director David Williams, and Ashburton choreographer Amber Bailey. Variety Theatre president Bridget Danielson said she was excited both by the production for next year, and the standard of the directing team. “It’s very exciting actually,
Luke Di Somma
they are all young and very enthusiastic,” Mrs Danielson said. Chicago is a Broadway classic, set in the legendary city amongst the razzle and dazzle of the 1920s jazz scene, telling the story of two rival vaudevillian murderesses. Auditions will kick off next month, with dance and movement auditions on December 14 at the Allenton School Hall, while principal, ensemble and
backing vocal auditions will be held on December 14. A pre-audition dancers’ workshop will be held at the Netherby School hall on December 10, 7pm to 8.30pm, and a movement workshop on the same day 6pm to 7pm. Mrs Danielson said dancing parts did not require singing, whereas movement parts would require singing. There are six principal characters, including the two prisoners Roxie Hart - described as innocent, sexy, desperate, and selfish - and Velma Kelly - sarcastic, sexy, tough and funny. Mrs Danielson had heard already that there was good interest in auditions, and she assured those who had not performed before that the directing team was looking forward to cultivating their talents. “I have heard we have some who have never performed before who are going to audition,” she said.
Ashburton Guardian 9
■ DEATH AT PORT
Man hit by logging truck A man has died in an industrial incident at the port of Lyttelton. The man, aged in his 50s, is believed to have been struck by a logging truck while walking on a port road at Number 2 Wharf, police said. Bystanders and paramedics attempted to perform CPR but he was pronounced dead at
the scene. The man is believed to have been an employee of a contracting firm at the port. Police and ambulance services were contacted at around 3.20pm. No further details of the incident are available. Investigations by MBIE health and safety and police are under way. - APNZ
Chch quake setting unique BY JAMIE MORTON Canterbury’s unique geological setting has led scientists to believe the earthquake sequence it has experienced could likely not happen anywhere else in the world. New research published in Nature Geoscience this week challenges the common assumption that the strength of the Earth’s crust is constant by demonstrating that energetic quakes, such as those in Canterbury, can cause widespread weakening of the crust. GNS scientists had previously considered the heavy ground acceleration recorded
at the time of the 7.1 Darfield Earthquake in September 2010 as extremely rare. The force of the February 22, 2011 quake, which killed 185 people, was so great it was considered statistically unlikely to happen more than once in a millennium, and far exceeded the loading extremes that New Zealand buildings were designed for. Our codes require buildings to have a 50-year design loads to withstand the loads of a 500-year event, but early reports indicated that the ground motion that afternoon was beyond even 2500-year designs. - APNZ