Musicals and Plays
Philip Bentley & Roger Buchanan
Philip Bentley
- Book and Lyrics
Philip has been involved in theatre for over twenty years, as an actor, director and writer. In the early days, he gained a thorough grounding in theatre by working as stage manager, lighting technician or sound technician on numerous productions, as well as acting in, and directing a string of shows. He has also been involved in set design and construction, administration, and marketing for several local theatre groups.
In 1990 he co-founded Energy Theatre, and here began his infatuation with the world of musical theatre. Philip was heavily involved with Energy Theatre in producing musicals such as Godspell, Little Shop of Horrors, Grease and Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
In addition to collaborating with Roger Buchanan on several musicals, Philip has written and produced a number of non-musical plays. In 1994 he won the Shell Playwright’s Award for his short play, The World and Mrs T, and 1995 was commissioned to write a one-act play for Wellington Golf Club’s Centenary.
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Roger Buchanan - Music
Roger has been Head of the Music Departments of three New Zealand secondary schools, and is currently head of one of the largest and most successful secondary school Music Departments in the country. He has also been a member of several Ministry of Education working parties writing the National Music Curriculum Review.
As a pianist, Roger has been a solo recording artist for the Radio New Zealand Concert Programme, and is an accomplished performer of both classical and contempory works.
Roger’s involvement in musical theatre goes back many years, and he has been musical director for over 15 musical productions, including Godspell, Grease, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Oliver!, Snoopy, A Chorus Line, and Bugsy Malone. Roger was the major force behind the establishment of Energy Theatre, and instrumental in determining their early dramatic direction.
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Working Together - The Collaborative Effort
Philip and Roger began their partnership by writing Show-struck, a musical theatre review presented by Energy Theatre in 1991. They then went on to write their first full-length musical, Spy!, which received its first production in 1992. Since then, Spy! has been produced by a number of groups around the country.
Having by now established their special working relationship, Philip and Roger began sketching out plans for a large-scale musical, and during 1992, the story of Cleopatra - The Musical was conceived. Little did they know that it would take a further four years to write, rewrite, workshop, and rewrite the show again, to prepare it for production. Cleopatra is now ready to take to the stage, and negotiations are underway, both in New Zealand and overseas, for the world premiere.
In 1996, while this process was going on, Philip and Roger started work on their next musical, and this show is currently nearing the completion of the first draft. They are also developing several other concepts for shows, and hope to build careers writing for musical theatre.