Experiencing a Kiwi Kirihimete at the Queenstown Christmas Show! (part 1)

 

A brief explanation of what the "Christmas Show" is...

The Christmas Show is a play that has a storyline of Olaf, a young boy whose flight to Iceland to celebrate Christmas is cancelled. He stumbles upon a kiwi who's quite experienced in having Kiwi Christmases, Aroha, and she takes Olaf on a journey of how kiwis truly spend their Christmas time.

Between different scenes of the play, there are performers that take on the stage such as aerialists dangling from quite literally the ceiling, gymnasts, ballet dancers from young women to men, heck, even a children's choir!

This is the 2025 Queenstown Christmas Show, and my perspective of how it went. Enjoy <3

Present day...

With my ironed brand-new white blouse with a layer of a cream coloured jumper over it, I leisurely stroll to the venue and going inside, spotting a queue on the way with the size of possibly half of my entire primary school queueing to get their ice cream cones. I guess that makes sense, since it's a scorching hot day today. It feels like I'm walking through a dessert right now, I mentally comment for myself.

What was I thinking of wearing a jumper in this state??

I pinch my cream jumper in the centre and try to produce some fresh cooling air by tugging it outwards, but nothing seems to be working.

I'll probably accept my fate and die of this blistering heat before I even get to watch the show, I sigh.

On the dot, my family and I practically arrived at 12: 40, but since the carparking was packed and other cars arrived at that time, it took a tiny bit of a delay to get it sorted. 

At least we're here now, but we won't get that the chance to get the good seats... 

Dejectedly, I sigh as I enter the rows of seats that is... "Whoa. That's a lot of people." I remark to my parents as the place is filled, and I mean filled, with people ranging from little kids to adults.

This is way more than I expected to be.

It seems to me that my parents also didn't expect that there would be a huge audience attending the event. "Yeah.."

I immediately notice there is a sort of mist-like air hanging, most likely coming from a fog machine. I'm confused to why there even is a fog machine in the first place. Did I miss out on something or why is there a fog machine that should appear on a Halloween event but is appearing on a Christmas event?? 

Eying my surroundings, I take a seat along with my family. 

I don't even know anymore.

"Hey Ninang? What time is it?" I ask, for clarification, mainly because there's just something about the atmosphere that I'm in that's making me feel like the show is just about to commend.

"Oh, it's..." She reads her digital watch. "12:45. 15 more minutes till the show begins."

Muttering a "thanks" and still taking in the buzzy chatty atmosphere, my eyes eventually fixate on the stage itself. There's a large screen and casted on this is the promotion poster that I saw from the sign outside. 

When I first entered the venue, I didn't exactly know what to expect my experience of the annual Queenstown Christmas Show and how it was going to be like. I knew nothing, but only the fact that it consisted of a play with a character called Olaf and... that's about it.

But now? My low expectations of this Christmas event has shattered into pieces. It's looking like a lot of people are attending this event, so if the public has made the effort to come to the show, then surely this Christmas Show has to be grand and exciting.

Right?

Only way is to find out I guess.

I use the time that I have left before the show begins to have some predictions about it. Maybe their play will be like my old school's play, where they made their original scripts and people audition for roles. For sure it'll be Christmas themed, the show after all is named "Christmas Show". I'm curious to find out what the show will actually be about.

As I'm processing my thoughts, a trail of kids entering the stage on either sides wearing blue t-shirts are supposedly what I think is the opening act. They all get into their specific positions; girls in the front, and boys at the back. 

This is definitely the kapa haka group, it's the same positions, girls in front, boys in the back, and plus, they're even doing the wiri wiri*.

(*wiri wiri is a maori word that means to shake your hands slightly, so the motion would look like rotating your wrists vigorously. The purpose of this according to my kapa haka instructor, is to bring life, and energy force.)

This was going to quite new for me, because, sure, I'm part of the kapa haka group, I'm always performing for audiences, making people smile or touched with waiata*. But the thing is; I never go to be the audience watching kapa haka groups perform. So this was going to interesting for me...

(*waiata is the maori word for songs)

The guitarist strums the chords on the guitar, implying that the opening act has...

Begun.

This particular kapahaka group was around the same size of my old school's, more or less. Their voices, like every single kapa haka group, is strong, and people are silently admiring their singing after countless of kapa haka practices to eventually perform to a crowd of people. Some new waiata that I never heard before is sung, others are ones I know very well.

I know for a fact they put a lot of effort to this. Because I've been there. In my old school, if there was an upcoming performance, the kapa haka organisers would squeeze kapa haka practices every free opportunity we would get to practice and improve before stepping on stage and representing the maori performing art.

Singing the last line, concluding the song, everyone gives applause for their admirable talent. I do so too. It was nice for once to be part of the audience instead of being the one singing of stage.

Presumably, the host walks up to the stage, mike in hand, with a huge welcoming grin on his face. It reminds me of those TV game shows where the host walks up to the area and says all their repeated lines. But this time, instead of watching it on TV, I'm watching it in real life. And it's beginning right now.

"Welcome to the Queenstown Christmas Show 2025!!"

The crowd's deafening cheers and bellows erupt the whole room in an instant.

"I'm Eric, and I'll be your host for today's Christmas Show. But before we begin, let me run some safety protocols to keep us safe." He drones on about nearby exits, what to do when there's an earthquakes, locations of toilets, etc.

After finishing with the safety procedures and warming up the audience, he puts on a smile. "With that, let the Christmas Show 2025 begin!"

To be continued...