Producing The Kapiti Village Variety Show

In moving from suburbia just before Christmas last year to my beautiful, friendly, lively Village (who said lifestyle villages are a place to vegetate?) I was amazed and delighted to find a community that excelled in being welcoming and inclusive.

After settling in and meeting some of the village identities – usually in our lovely cafeteria – I was approached by our dynamic superwoman chair of the Residents Committee, to “just explore” as she put it, the idea that I might produce the annual Village Variety Show in July.

I had intended to get involved in village activities when I moved in, but not this soon! And certainly not in the role of producing such an important event in the 2021 entertainment life of our village. I have many faults, but the inability to say no is probably the one that gets me into the most trouble.

So, I said yes and launched myself into one of the most rewarding ventures I have ever been involved in.

A small committee was established to assist, and to my astonishment it was full of amazingly talented members, including a very funny inhouse master of ceremonies and a costume designer extraordinaire. Our resident committee chair, secretary and other villagers made up our number.

We advertised, called for acts and our village came to the party!

This was so exciting, the acts on offer were so different and diverse, I knew we had the makings of a truly great show.

Our village staff and management were truly amazing, the encouragement from our village manager being “let me know how I can help”. Two of her staff delivered great acts, and our gorgeous receptionist dressed up as a show girl in fishnet stockings, accompanied by our very handsome maintenance manager in top a hat and tails, these two welcomed our audience as they arrived at the show.

Two rehearsals were held, and the magic of our village came to the fore as sound technicians, video experts, a photographer, and stagehands all came forward to offer their services, the villagers on the program also practiced their offerings. Some of these acts had been in development for many weeks and months.

On show day, a crew arrived to set up the hall, a raffle table and payment table for entry fee management magically appeared complete with wonderful villagers to manage those tasks. I was delighted to realise that our village just gets done what’s needed, you only have to ask once, or accept an offer of help and it happens!

Our Variety Show was a great success thanks to all those who, acted, sung, danced, played or supported in so many ways. I was so delighted that some of the grandchildren of the village made magical appearances as fairies – they were very special handing out lollies and big smiles.

A very rewarding event to be involved in. Bring on our 2022 Variety Show!