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photo:  Gary Baildon

Since training at Auckland's influential Theatre Corporate, New Zealand actor Jennifer Ward-Lealand has worked extensively in theatre, film and television for over 25 years.  She has excelled in both dramatic and comedic roles, as well as numerous roles in musical theatre and cabaret.

In recent years Jennifer has also become a director of theatre, especially musicals, and has devised many cabarets.  As an accomplished singer, she presents her own shows, Falling in Love Again and The Look of Love, at festivals and venues in New Zealand and Australia.  She is also in demand as a tutor of musical theatre.

Jennifer is President of New Zealand Actors Equity and serves as a trust board member of Silo Theatre and an honorary board member of Women in Film & Television-Auckland. In the 2007 New Years Honours List, she was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit "for services to the theatre and the community." 

Click here for Jennifer's upcoming projects.

 


CLICK LINKS AT RIGHT FOR INFORMATION ON JENNIFER'S CABARET SHOWS:

Check out Jennifer's My Space page at www.myspace.com/jenniferwardlealand

JENNIFER IS 'JENNY' IN THE THREEPENNY OPERA


Amanda Billing, Esther Stephens, Jennifer, Roy Snow

CLICK HERE TO BOOK                    

Jennifer will play Jenny in Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera at the Maidment Theatre from 29 May-22 June 2008, directed by Michael Hurst and presented by Silo Theatre and The Large Group (Michael and Jennifer's theatre company).

Cast: Keith Adams, Paul Barrett, Amanda Billing, Peter Elliott, Delia Hannah, Waimihi Hotere, Charlie McDermott, Cameron Rhodes, Roy Snow, Esther Stephens, and Elizabeth Tierney.  Musical direction by Grant Winterburn, movement by Marianne Schultz, design by John Verryt, Elizabeth Whiting, Victoria Ingram, and Jeremy Fern.

At its premiere The Threepenny Opera blew Berlin apart.  It was modern, sexy, shot through with urgent, anti-capitalist politics, full of hit tunes but with brutally honest and shockingly street-wise lyrics.

A noisy hotchpotch of stock operetta characters, American jazz, John Gay's eighteenth century world of thieves, pimps and whores recast in a mythical Victorian London and all refeacted through the decadent prism of Weimar cabaret.

Nearly eighty years on, it is still an explosive work.  Its classic status has too often set it at a comfortable distance, but in the world of sports-shoe sweatshops and stockpiled food, its questions still roar.  Walking down the street, being asked for money by people living on the streets or watching cops in their tight black gloves moving people on, the city becomes fractured though Brecht's prism.  In 2008, Brecht's salient take on the human condition couldn't be more necessary for production.

Regarded as one of the most influential dramatic works of the twentieth century (indeed of any century), its music and songs, including the legendary "Ballad of Mack the Knife," are seminal to the development of both musical theatre and jazz itself.

The Threepenny Opera is vivid, wild, entertaining, dramatic, dark, funny, violent, sexy, provocative, and very, very human.


JENNIFER WARD-LEALAND, PRESIDENT, NEW ZEALAND ACTORS EQUITY

Jennifer is joined by a number of other New Zealand actors in a short recruitment video on Youtube for New Zealand Actors Equity.  Check it out here.


JENNIFER IN THE MAGAZINES

There is an interview with Jennifer on the back of the May City Mix, and on page 100 of the May Metro.  Both magazines are on newsstands now.


JENNIFER TO BE A "CELEBRITY WAITER" FOR DRESS FOR SUCCESS

Jennifer will be one of the "celebrity waiters" at a fund-raising dinner for Dress for Success Auckland on 15 May 2008, 7 p.m., at the Heritage Auckland.  Click here for more information.


JENNIFER TO HOST NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS 2008 AWARDS FOR ARCHITECTURE GALA DINNER

Jennifer and Michael Hurst will host the New Zealand Institute of Architects 2008 Gala Awards Dinner at Sky City Convention Centre on 24 May 2008. 



JENNIFER'S CD, FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN

Jennifer has produced a CD, Falling in Love Again, which is a studio recording of her touring cabaret show Jennifer Ward-Lealand Falling in Love Again.  Click here for more about the CD including a complete song list and instructions on how to order.

Review:  " . . . you'll never again hear Dietrich as divinely drawn by someone so intelligent and beautiful . . . buy this CD, give copies to your friends . . . "  GayNZ.com


Kia ora and welcome to Jennifer Ward-Lealand's Official Website.  Whether you're a fan looking for information, a producer seeking a performer, or somebody just stopping by - we're glad you're here.  Please use the menu at the top of the page to explore Jennifer's career - past and future. And if you have questions or comments, just drop us a line:  .  Thanks.

J E N N I F E R   W A R D - L E A L A N D   O F F I C I A L   W E B S I T E
© Jennifer Ward-Lealand                              Click here for contact information.