Rockwiz Live! The Christmas(ish) Show

Christmas is coming, and whilst the past year has been a bit of a mixed bag, the Rockwiz team is aiming to put a smile on our collective faces with their Christmas(ish) show. The Rockwiz Orkestra plus guests will serve up seasonal songs while the effervescent Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis ask the curly questions.

For Nankervis, the Rockwiz concept was a winner from its inception: “We’ve just completed Season 14, and pretty early on we realised it was a really good format. You can tell in a live audience that it’s going well. People loved it right from the start”.

Recalling the early shows featuring the likes of Paul Kelly, Renee Geyer, Joe Camilleri, and Christine Anu, Nankervis points out that the show was hugely popular with the artists themselves: “They really liked doing the show because they realised that we took the music pretty seriously.”

While cast and crew have been together from the beginning, the undeniable mystery ingredient is the contestants. “They’re often the stars of the show because not being performers, they don’t behave in a usual way,” explained Nankervis. “When you get Barry, the bearded Bob Dylan fan from Hornsby, we don’t know how he’s going to react, and I love that. I think that’s a really crucial part of the show’s success.”

Nankervis stresses that it is the Christmas-“ish” show, with a comedic twist on events that have shaped the year as well as paying tribute to some of our fallen idols. “There’s a Prince song and a magnificent tribute to Bowie, which we’re pretty excited about. It’s been a bit of a sad year so the plan is to finish with a few laughs.” (GW)

Dec 10, 8:00pm. Enmore Theatre, 118-132 Enmore Rd, Newtown. $96-$122. Tickets & info: www.ticketek.com.au or call Enmore Theatre on (02) 9550 3666