The Queenstown producers of Rock and Roll Suicide and London Calling are in the middle of an intense rehearsal schedule for their new stage show California Dreaming.
Writer-director Margaret O'Hanlon, production manager Nicky Viggers and the excited cast gathered for their third weekly rehearsal in the Qpact rooms on Wednesday night.
Ms O'Hanlon said what made the production different from past shows was everyone had a character to play, everyone would sing a solo, and dialogue would be spoken between songs.
The plot involved "Bobby", a rock star based on Mick Jagger, "Brigitte", a French movie star based on Brigitte Bardot, and "Charlie", based on Charles Manson, against the background of civil rights protests in the United States in 1969.
Ms O'Hanlon said the cast featured a mixture of Wakatipu stage veterans and newcomers: Alex Fraser, Jason Fullerton, Charlotte Graf, Paul Halsted, Violet Lees, Sam Maxwell, Pearly McGrath, Jason Medina, Tiffany Menzies, Marty Newell, Tama Reedy, Renata Rubini, Fee Stephenson and Ailsa Williamson.
They will sing songs by 1960s and '70s acts Jefferson Airplane, the Beach Boys, Janis Joplin, Stephen Stills, Burt Bacharach, Santana, the Doors, Sly and the Family Stone, the Mamas and the Papas, Nancy Sinatra, and the Eagles.
California Dreaming will run at the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall from October 4-6. Tickets cost $40 from i-Site Queenstown and the Lakes District Museum, Arrowtown.
