{"id":579285,"date":"2026-08-24T23:48:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/579285\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T23:48:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:48:38","slug":"8-scott-ave-rotoruas-tudor-towers-inspires-jack-graces-latest-musical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/579285\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Scott Ave: Rotorua\u2019s Tudor Towers inspires Jack Grace\u2019s latest musical"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grace<\/a> is now bringing those 1970s nights back to life on stage in the fourth story of his 8 Scott Ave production series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The musical, Night at the Towers, is to be held at the Sir Howard Morrison Centre from September 3 to 5.<\/p>\n

\"CairoCairo performing at The Tudor Towers during the 1980’s. Photo\/Supplied <\/p>\n

The series followed the fictional Smith family through different chapters of life in \u014cwhata, drawing on Grace\u2019s own upbringing and the experiences of families who settled in the area during the 1950s and 60s.<\/p>\n

They were \u201csimple living folk\u201d who didn\u2019t have much, Grace said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when they sang, they had everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace played Jimmy Smith, who in this storyline is a local bookie taking illegal bets on horse races.<\/p>\n

When he hears a talent quest at Tudor Towers advertised on the wireless, Jimmy spies an opportunity to make some money and enters his four sisters.<\/p>\n

There is just one problem.<\/p>\n

The sisters are more accustomed to working at the local sewing factory, coming home and playing cards than getting \u201cflashed up\u201d for a night on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just very humble ladies,\u201d Grace said.<\/p>\n

When they arrive at the Towers, they discover they are up against seasoned performers who have already done gigs in Auckland and appeared on television.<\/p>\n

Grace said that was when the show really started to \u201ckick along\u201d.<\/p>\n

Much of the humour comes from dropping the Smith family into the glitz of the Towers \u2013 and taking audiences back to a time when something good was \u201cgrouse\u201d and an embarrassed person might be told, \u201cdon\u2019t get your browns\u201d.<\/p>\n

Grace described it as \u201chistorical humour\u201d, one that audiences who had attended past shows would know well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just chuckles all over the room,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Each of the performance nights will recognise people who helped shape the Tudor Towers\u2019 history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"CarolCarol Eru and Tai Eru entertain with the Senators at Tudor Towers in 1977. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n

One night will be dedicated to Charlie Pihera, who Grace said helped turn the Towers\u2019 restaurant into a tourism drawcard.<\/p>\n

Another night will remember the late Rob Paterson, bass player for Cairo, a band that became part of the Towers\u2019 music scene.<\/p>\n

Grace had a few surprises in store for the nights too.<\/p>\n

Rehearsals were underway, with an all-local cast and familiar faces from previous 8 Scott Ave stories.<\/p>\n

Grace said Rotorua had a strong theatre community, but putting on local productions had become increasingly challenging.<\/p>\n

It required a \u201chuge\u201d investment of time, energy and passion from those involved.<\/p>\n

The production had secured funding from Rotorua Trust, but the team had also launched a Givealittle page<\/a> for anyone wanting to chip in.<\/p>\n

Donations would help with costs such as venue hire, staging, lighting, sound, costumes, set design, rehearsals and marketing.<\/p>\n

The work was worth it for Grace.<\/p>\n

He wanted to keep telling Rotorua\u2019s stories and hopefully keep a piece of the city\u2019s past alive beyond the stage.<\/p>\n

Tickets can be purchased on the Sir Howard Morrison Centre website.<\/p>\n

Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grace is now bringing those 1970s nights back to life on stage in the fourth story of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82527,156,140100,24804,22259,700,9381,111,139,69,38715,8139,34456,285380],"class_list":["post-579285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ave","tag-entertainment","tag-graces","tag-inspires","tag-jack","tag-latest","tag-musical","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rotoruas","tag-scott","tag-towers","tag-tudor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}