Westlake Productions

Over the past ten years, Westlake Schools have enjoyed unparalleled success, combining both Westlake Boys’ and Girls’ Schools to mount a major production. In 2024, Westlake Productions made history by producing two spectacular shows in the same year for the first time. The energetic musical Crazy for You and the swashbuckling Three Musketeers were both resounding successes, with many sold-out performances. Crazy for You also marked the debut of tap dancing in a Westlake production, adding a new layer of excitement. This achievement follows the 2023 production of Into the Woods, which earned seven accolades at the Auckland Live Showdown Awards, including the coveted Best Production award (2023), further cementing Westlake’s reputation for excellence in the performing arts.

In 2021, Socially Distanced Shakespeare won three Auckland Live Showdown Awards, including Best Play, Best Technical Design, and Best Direction. In 2019, the musical Les Miserables was staged, boasting 100 students in acting roles, 30 students in the orchestra, 20 students backstage and in technical roles, and was seen by an audience of 3,500 across its season. This production won six awards, including the Auckland Live Best Production Award (2019), and the iTicket Showdown People’s Choice Award.

Previous productions have included two musicals by composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim: Assassins (2015) and Sweeney Todd (2017), and two plays: a bicultural reimagining of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016), and a piece of performance ethnography, YouthQuake (2018), co-written by Nick Brown, MJ Milburn and the 70 students in the production.

The staff member who leads production is head of department, Dr. Nick Brown: nbr@westlake.school.nz