|
|
|
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:
|
|
|
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. |
|