KIWI CONCERT PARTY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 75, 25 May 1943, Page 4

KIWI CONCERT PARTY

Official War Correspondent New Caledonia, May 4.

New Zcalanders serving in New "f Caledonia now boast a Kiwi Concert Party, functioning under the wing of the Army Education and Welfare Service, which has iust begun its first official tour of units on the islandFormed" by gathering together a dozen of the most talented musicians and stage players in the Division, the party has a full-time job rehearsing and giving concerts. It plays at night, in the open air for the most part, to appreciative audiences. Still short of properties and of costumes, the party nevertheless turns on a breezy entertainment. Coleman lamps arc its normal light ing, curtains and assorted boxes and timber its stage. Producer aianjv'er i.s Rex S.ayers formerly of Christchureh and Auckland, who is-well-known in New Zealand as a radio announcer and leading figure in Repertory Society productions. In the Kiwi Party he writes most of the script for skefc- < ches and dialogues. At home ha . appeared in many musical comedies. Another Aucklandcr, "O;sie" Chees man, is the party's star musician. Before Hie war the leader of an Auckland dance band, and an accomplished classical musician, he plays an. imposing variety of instruments •with equal facility the piano, m piano accordion, saxaphone, clarinet, trumpet and trombone. His items in New Caledonia are always in good favour. Two South Island members, of the. party are Henry Burns, versatile Christchuiflch artist, who dances, sings and plays the banjolene , ; and' Harold Davidson, member of the Ljtic Choir, Dunedin, who has ma'de frequent appearances in dramatic presentations with the W.E.A. and the Aclclphi Players. Back to Auckland again to find the star female impersonator, nine, teen year old Dug Morison, whom Northerners may remember in the GraTton Players and the Auckland Repertory Society. In the. band are four other North Islanders, Burns Dcphoff, dance , band, drummer, of Auckland; Harold Trumcr, of Wellington, trumpeter; Robert Opsaskl, New Plymouth, string bass player, and John Mackenzie, Auckland, pianist. Allan has'been''alii entertainer for the last 10 or 12 years. Formerly an Auckland magician, he is becoming as well known in New Caledonia among the troops as he was throughout New Zealand. On Kiwi programmes he is billed as "Alamat, the Twentieth Century Magician." _ §2 The party is completed by Ralph' 5 Dyer, vocalist, dancer and female impersonator, an" Aucklander who is. in charge, of costumes and. scenery, and Maurice Invercargill, light baritone. As more properties come , to hand, so the Kiwi Concert Party will progress. Tins and cardboard were first, used as scenery, and the. players decked themselves in bright pyjamas, tin hats and wigs from horses' tails. Requests; far t more gear have gone to New eZaland, and a folding portagle , stage, among other things, is expected soon.