City Choir Dunedin and Little Box of Operas join forces to present a family-friendly musical show based on the legend of Saint George and the Dragon next month. 

Based on a whimsical children’s story by Kenneth Grahame and set to music by renowned English composer John Rutter, The Reluctant Dragon brings together the choir, local opera singers and musicians in a lively showcase. 

The production, to be staged at 4pm and 7.30pm on Saturday, August 8, at Otago Boys’ High School auditorium, will be led by musical director David Burchell and artistic director Jenny Burchell. 

The Reluctant Dragon will be a live musical storybook, narrated by Philip Craigie, with local opera singers Teddy Finney Waters and Joseph Kelly as the Dragon and St George respectively and young singers Max Smith and Alicia Chiruka alternating in the role of “the child”. 

City Choir Dunedin singers will take the role of the villagers and chorus, and the performances will be accompanied by members of Dunedin Youth Orchestra with Sandra Crawshaw (piano). 

Musical director David Burchell said Rutter’s The Reluctant Dragon was a lively, comedic take on a classic story that made it suitable for audiences of a broad range of ages. 

In the show’s version of the story, a dragon the size of four cart horses has appeared in a cave, and local villagers call on St George to rid them of the terrible beast. However, the dragon wants to fight St George even less than St George wants to fight him. What can they do?

The result is high-spirited fun across the stage and throughout the auditorium, with spectacular costumes and props.

Soloist Teddy Finney Waters (tenor) is in his 3rd year at the University of Otago, studying law and classical singing, under the tutelage of Dr Tessa Romano and Judy Bellingham. 

Finney Waters is a member of the 2026-28 New Zealand Youth Choir, an RSA Choir vocal scholar and sings with the Southern Youth Choir and Octagon Ensemble.

Soloist Joseph Kelly (tenor) is a year 13 student at Trinity Catholic College and has had more than a decade of classical vocal training, most recently with Judy Bellingham. 

A member of the NZ Secondary Students Choir, which is about to tour internationally, Kelly has also performed many solo roles in Opera Otago and Taieri Musical Society shows.

Kelly plays organ at First Church and St Paul’s Cathedral, is choral scholar with the St Paul’s Cathedral Choir and sings with City Choir Dunedin.

Next month’s family-oriented performances of Rutter’s The Reluctant Dragon will also include other musical stories by the composer.

City Choir Dunedin will sing Rutter’s Five Childhood Lyrics —  a brief set of choral songs based on children’s rhymes; and the Dunedin Youth Orchestra strings will perform his Suite for String Orchestra, featuring traditional English folk tunes.

The music and stories will be linked together for the audiences by narrator Philip Craigie.

The concert’s duration will be about 75 minutes, including a short interval.