Wellington Comic Opera

Wellington Comic Opera has delighted and amused audiences across New Zealand since 1957. Our productions are done to a professional standard drawing on the region's best singers and actors.

We are an incorporated society. Our legal (and original) name is the Wellington Gilbert & Sullivan Society. We changed to Wellington Comic Opera in 2021.

Tickets are now available - The McCardo 2025

Wellington Comic Opera's 2025 production will be a lightly updated version of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.

Our production, The McCardo, has been relocated to the Scottish Highlands. The main characters have to negotiate the decrees of the clan chief McCardo, the machinations of the 'Minister of Everything' Pooh-Bah, and the well-meaning incompetence of the newly appointed Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko.

Director: David Cox

Musical Director: William McElwee

Repetiteurs: Robyn Jaquiery and Dayle Anderson

Click through any of the dates below for tickets.

Tickets are Adult $40, Concession $35, and Students $15. Additional booking fees apply to all sales. There are door sales for all performances - cash and EFT-POS. We cannot take credit cards sorry. *If you are looking to attend the Raumati performance, we recommend you buy your tickets online as this performance is almost sold out and there may not be seats remaining for door sales.

Cast

The McCardo – Lindsay Groves

Nanki-Poo (Wandering minstrel) – Teresa Sullivan

Ko-Ko (Lord High Executioner) – Vincent Wong

Pooh-Bah (Lord High Everything Else) – Yang Liu

Pish-Tush (Noble) – Braden Lister

Yum Yum (Ward of Ko-Ko) – Lizzie Summers

Pitti-Sing (Ward of Ko-Ko) – Gemma Conn

Peep-Bo (Ward of Ko-Ko) – Zoe Stocks

Katisha (Elderly lady) – Rebecca Murphy Woodmore

Ensemble: Antonia Selby, Demelza Gallen, Hannah Collier, Margaret Mabbett, Marion Wilson, Melody Holmes, Alice Graham, Nicola Marshall, Rod Lawson, Sam Holmes, Frank Milne, Ian Graham.

Below are a few photos from our July 2024 concert series where fifteen of our performers did selections from My Fair Lady, Hello Dolly, The Music Man, Calamity Jane, Call Me Madam, and State Fair.

It's a grand night for singing

Music director: Lesley Graham

Accompanist: Dayle Anderson

Movement Director: Shirley Kauter

Performers: Kassandra Wang, Gisela de la Villa, Melody Holmes, Rosie Knight, Margaret Mabbett, Antonia Selby, Matilda Wickborn, Kevin O'Kane, David Cox, Ian Graham, Lindsay Groves, Steve Hendry, Yang Liu, Josh Long, and Vincent Wong.

PHOTOS: the team on the Khandallah Town Hall stage

Pirates!

Our 2023 season of PIRATES! toured Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Raumati, and Palmerston North in May 2023. Directed by the talented Alison Hodge with Music Direction by Michael Vinten, Theatreview described it as "Spiffingly good fun, genuinely rollicking, tuneful, and a super-intelligent update".

Photos of a few of our older (pre-Covid) shows are shown below...

Please email us at wco@wellingtoncomicopera.nz if you would like to (a) receive our occasional newsletters where we advertise auditions, or (b) receive information on upcoming productions and ticketing. We would love to hear from you. You can also follow us on our Facebook page.