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Story: Opera and musical theatre

Comic opera programme

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Comic opera programme

This programme, for an 1892 performance of The old guard (Planquette’s Les voltigeurs du 32ieme) at the Theatre Royal in Christchurch, illustrates audience members watching a performance from the boxes that were on each side of the stage in a traditional opera house. Light and comic opera was as popular as 'grand' opera in 19th-century New Zealand.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-B-OPERA-1892-01-front

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Lindis Taylor, Opera and musical theatre – Light opera and musical theatre, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/41872/comic-opera-programme (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Lindis Taylor, published 18 June 2013.