Super Troupers set for Stars stage

When the SOS call went out for Stars in Your Eyes entries, four friends weren’t about to let the opportunity slip through their fingers. Racheal Kenyon, Katrina Lange, Dave Barrett and Blair McLean will be stepping into the platform shoes and glitzy costumes of ABBA this October.

And they’re no strangers to playing characters on the Marlborough stage, having taken part in a range of Blenheim Musical Theatre performances, including the ABBA-themed Mamma Mia.

“Blair, our official ideas man, came up with a plan and wore us down – how could we say no to four friends performing ABBA together?”, Rachael laughs. “We have a long list of performances between us, over the last 20 years mainly because we’re older than the other performers!”

Dave was Bernadette in BMT’s Priscilla and played Bill Sykes in Oliver.
Blair played radio announcer Bert Healy in Annie, while Racheal was Grace Farrell in Annie and took on the role of Winnifred Banks in Mary Poppins performing on stage with her son Nico.

Kat has performed in Chicago and turned out as Catherine Zeta Jones/Velma Kelly singing All That Jazz at the 2022 event.

“We’ve had such a lot of laughs and fun together rehearsing and sorting costumes, as they’ve been a great mood enhancer and we’re definitely all in our happy place performing,” Rachael added.

With their stage experiences, alongside the experience of Kat and Racheal running Pure Events Marlborough’s range of community events, they’re eager be on stage instead of organising backstage.

“We all love performing and having fun on stage with friends. The environment of Stars in Your Eyes is so supportive and encouraging, especially backstage among the contestants, although we all want to do well for our charities of course,” Kat said.

“We all love the stage and have performed many times both separately and together”, says Dave. “There is always a buzz and nervous excitement though.”