Saturday Night Fever The Musical

Picturesque Queenstown is festooned with the iconic dancing man logo of this 1970s film turned musical and the leading man Cameron Mason is so full of beans it looked like he had leapt out from a poster.

Talk about talent and brains to burn. At 15 he started University to study to be an astronaut. Then the Christchurch talent learnt he was too tall for NASA. Graduating at 19 with some redundant astronomy subjects, he became a private investigator. Now at 21 he is reaching for the stars on stage.

This boy could move. He commanded the Disco floor like a King, sang very nicely and absolutely nailed the character of Tony Monaro, made immortal by John Travolta.

There was also a titter from the audience when he stripped down to his underpants...where did he have his microphone pack?

Cameron is keen to spread his wings across New Zealand. He was the only imported talent. All the rest were locals. Like the snow during winter it runs deep.

The local lighting team TomTom Productions set up an LED lighting screen. It flashed many of the outdoor scenes including the iconic Brooklyn bridge up onto the back of the stage.

Absolutely dazzling was the disco floor projection which also beamed the dancers in action up onto the wall.

Another star was the choreographer Anna Stuart. She drilled the dancers for months and the result was spectacular.

The musical director Emma Wilson also never missed a beat, with her band hidden off stage.

The Director Bryan Aitken got the best out of the cast who boogied into the spirit of the era, even if they were not as talented as their leading man.

Tiffany Mitchell was especially poised as Tony's older love interest Stephanie. Another Tiffany (Menzies) was cool as Annette.

Sam Harris as Bobby C was the stand out face in the male gang members.

The overall slick performance allowed the audience to feast on the Bee Gees hit songs and take in the dialogue, which often surprises.

This was a production equal to elite community theatres in Australia but from a town with a population of just 10,000.

David Spicer*

*David Spicer Productions manages the rights to Saturday Night Fever The Musical.

Images: Matt Wong Photography