Prince Charles and Princess Di had arrived. The crowd, a who's who of the Tauranga theatre and performing arts scene, was fizzing.
However, the leading lady, the diva, hadn't finished getting dressed. Baycourt wasn't quite complete.
But in true theatre spirit, the show went on, and the Prince and Princess officially blessed a building site…the jewel of Tauranga, our Baycourt performing arts centre. Today named Baycourt Community & Arts Centre.
Barbara ‘Barby' Pensabene was there 40 years ago on Tuesday 26, 1983. 'Charlie waved to me.” Charlie, Prince of Wales Charlie, now King Charles. But Barby couldn't wave back because her arms were full of a baby – born just two weeks earlier.
She didn't even buy a new dress for the birth of the other baby in her life, the brand new Baycourt. 'I was still in maternity outfits, whatever fitted really.” She hoots with laughter. A very theatrical hoot.
But this was still a very special, a very proud day for the singer, actress, director, drama teacher and member of the Tauranga Arts Council – which had pitched, scratched, scraped, pushed and pulled for 10 years to get Baycourt over the line, from a $1.9 million highfalutin arty idea to a landmark reality. That's $7,986,031 in today's money. 'It was all bricks and mortar and stuff, although the walls were up,” says Barby.
No trappings
But no trappings of theatre – no fly system, no lighting or sound desk, no curtain, scenery, nor stage effects. 'Since then, thousands of performers have trod the boards at Baycourt,” says Baycourt marketing manager David Tauranga. 'And every single one of them has imbued a tiny piece of their wairua (spirit) into the bones of our venue.”
Like Barby Pensabene. They have stories, like the night the whores froze. 'I was whore number 7 in ‘Les Miserables' – think it was 1995 – and one of the whores dropped a line. We all froze. Where's the line? Then someone improvised, and dragged us out of our paralysis.” You don't have to be a thespian to feel the gut punch that comes with forgetting a line while 582 people look on.
An institution
Baycourt was designed by Sir Miles Warren, the celebrated architect who left a lasting imprint on the look of New Zealand cities. Someone suggested he practised on the Christchurch Town Hall before perfecting Baycourt. 'It's not just a beautiful building but an institution that's been so formative for many generations of performances and audiences alike,” says David.
'And it's a truly remarkable feeling walking through the front doors for work, knowing that at any moment it could explode with life and be packed to the rafters with hundreds of punters indulging in the power and magic of a live event.”
Like tonight, April 21, Baycourt's celebrating its 40th anniversary the only way it knows how – with performance, an 'extravaganza of talent and spectacle”. A sell-out ‘B40: Gala Concert' tonight, Friday, April 21. Performers of all ages filling Baycourt's Addison Theatre with music, kapa haka, drama, comedy and even circus. In that eclectic mix will be a slice of ‘Les Miserables' presented by The Tauranga Music Theatre. Covid scuttled the company's ‘Les Mis' production last year – it never got to stage.
So the theatre has invited performers from the 1995 incarnation of ‘Les Mis' to join it for a reprise for the Gala Concert. 'Totally going to do it,” says Barby Pensabene.
She told organisers not to worry about a microphone because 'the voice had gone”. However, she reassured them ‘the girls', the breasts that got her the job as ‘whore 7' in 1995 'were still there”.
There's that laugh again. 'That's not for print.” Of course it is, good stories always make the cut.
There have been many shows – from Pru Goch's School of Dance to ‘Pinocchio', from ‘Peter Pan' to ‘Toad of Toad Hall'. ‘West Side Story' in 1990. 'I was a Shark, a Puerto Rican, one of the ‘I Feel Pretty' girls',” says Barby.
'Baycourt was a magnificent setting for them, a wonderful theatre for it.”
And you can feel that history washing over you when you walk through Baycourt.'You can hear the laughs, the sighs, the sobs and exclamations echoing off the walls,” says David.
High emotions, wonderful times and wonderfully inspirational people – like the Ōtūmoetai College drama teacher Bob Addison, who first presented preliminary plans for Baycourt to the council in 1974. Bob, Mr Baycourt, a man with vision, the eponymous driving force of the Addison Theatre.
Brilliant name
And when I suggest the name ‘Baycourt' could have been improved on, Barby shouts me down. 'No, no! Absolutely brilliant name! The court of the bay, the court encompassing the community. We could not have done better.” David sums up ‘our theatre' with a flourish. 'Working at Baycourt is not a life of art for me, it's an art of life.” Happy 40th anniversary Baycourt Community & Arts Centre! Baycourt will celebrate from April 21-29. Find out more at: https://www.baycourt.co.nz/whats-on
The whores of 'Les Misèrables'. Barbara 'Barby' Pensabene is front left in 1995. Photo: Supplied.