Upstage

The script was an unproduced musical I’d written a few years prior and when I started saying out loud that I thought I’d quite like to make a movie, a lot of people were eager to join in. It was the most fun I’ve had working.

– Writer/director Michael Nicholas Williams on Upstage, Bowel Cancer Foundation Trust website, 6 April 2019

You were so busy being cultured and relevant, you didn't think to get it right?

– Benny Barker (Lloyd Scott) chews out one of the team

Look this is a musical; credibility will be the last thing an audience ls expecting.

– Benny Barker (Lloyd Scott) chews out one of the team

Well, you know what they say: "bad dress rehearsal, great opening night".

– One of the cast

That's not how te reo works . . . it'll mean something completely different now. Te reo is a very lyrical language: you can't just do each word individually.

– One of the cast discovers another problem with the show

So in this groundbreaking Aotearoan musical, we don't have a Māori actor in the lead role...in the company?

– Benny Barker (Lloyd Scott)