"Discovery Is The Adventure" say the signs over one of the bridges going into Wanganui. A mere five minutes later that proved to be true. After a lovely 1/2 hour stroll beside the river to get into the city I walked past a beautiful old building. Ding ding! Out comes the camera. Not only was it an opera house, but the Royal Wanganui Opera House. I had to go inside anyway to ask for directions to the nearest iSite (town info centre).
As luck would have it, the woman at the box office offered to take me on a little tour of the joint. Over the next half-hour I saw the front of house, backstage, workshops, heard all sorts of stories. It is a gorgeous but not overly ornate wooden building that's over 100 years old and is New Zealand's last remaining Victorian theatre. Renovations are ongoing but much of the original remains - the seat frames in the audience, for example. They're still hoisting stuff by ropes backstage instead of using hydraulics. The sound system is about the only thing high tech in there.
I could feel the history and almost smell the grease paint and dance rosin. Turns out this place has its own resident ghost, as do many of these old theatres. Theirs is named Frank, a former stage manger who had a heart attack and died during a performance. Frank likes to watch shows from side of stage, will turn sound down if it's too loud for his liking, and supposedly put on an extra light show when a hypnotist performed.
What a completely delightful surprise to stumble upon this bit of history.
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