Here’s how to spend your weekend in Auckland

The Auckland Philharmonia is hosting children’s concerts this weekend with the title, Tunes 4 Tamariki: Christmas. Photo / Thomas Hamill
With December getting started and the temperature heating up it’s starting to feel like the holidays.
Tāmaki Makaurau is a veritable hotbed of activity this weekend including a live stage musical of our own, a new art exhibition, classical music for young and old, the opening of a final farewell season for a beloved theatre company and more. Plus, there are a few things that didn’t quite make our list but are definitely worth checking out including The Others Way Festival on Karangahape Rd, A Very Tasty Christmas food festival at The Cloud and the Spooks & Sparks Fireworks display at the Trusts Arena.
One way to escape the rising chaos of this time of year is to quietly and mindfully take in some art and this weekend two new exhibitions are opening at Corban Estate Arts Centre: They Saw Leaves Growing by Sue Cooke and Brie Rate, and Curiosities of Status by Re:Use Collective. Cooke and Rate are printmakers from different generations, however, side by side, their works talk to each other, sharing themes about the environment, natural and urban. On Saturday at 11am, both artists will be on-site, along with curator Wesley John Fourie, to discuss their work. Curiosities of Status, created by artists Lara Thomas, Bobbie Gray, Louise Keen, Judith Lawson, Milvia Romici and Kathy Ready, challenges the audience to consider the modern-day obsession with consumption and the subsequent loss of care or reverence for the objects we own. It’s a timely exhibition, especially this weekend as people are hypnotised by Black Friday sales, that asks us to question the true value of things.
When: November 30-February 8.
Where: Homestead Galleries, Corban Estate Arts Centre, 2 Mt Lebanon Lane, Henderson, Auckland.
Price: Free.
If you thought getting kids to sit on Santa’s lap and smile for the camera was challenging, try doing it with fur babies, which you can at Petdirect in Takapuna this silly season. For the next three Saturdays, you can take your canine family members down to have a Christmas photo with a southern hemisphere-style Santa, think shorts and jandals instead of snow boots, and get the cutest darn Christmas keepsake you can imagine and a guaranteed hit for your socials. Why do the human babies have to get all the Christmas fanfare and memorabilia? It’s time to indoctrinate your pups into the madness of the festive spirit.
When: November 30, December 7 and 14, 10am-2pm.
Where: Petdirect, 33 Barry’s Point Rd, Takapuna, Auckland.
Price: $19.95. Bookings at petdirect.co.nz/lp/santa-paws-takapuna
Head into the city this weekend and you’ll find hundreds of children flocking to Aotea Centre where the National Youth Theatre is staging its end-of-year production, Alice: A Wonderland Musical. It’s the premiere season of this new musical created by James Doy and Jonathan Alver that cleverly plays within the world of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland with familiar characters but an original story. The cast includes more than 200 children and young people aged 7-21 years who’ve been working hard to bring this musical to life since the middle of the year. There are two performances each day, Saturday and Sunday. This show is guaranteed to make your heart smile and, if you bring children, you might find them begging to be future National Youth Theatre cast members on the way out.
When: November 30-December 1.
Where: Aotea Centre, Auckland Central.
Price: Tickets start at $29.95 + booking fees from ticketmaster.co.nz
If you’re the parent of young children, you’ve probably been up since 5am – after being up multiple times before that – and this Saturday is starting to feel incredibly long. The Auckland Philharmonia would like to help fill the day for you with its children’s concerts, Tunes 4 Tamariki: Christmas. Rainbow Rosalind the Fairy will be spreading some festive musical cheer when she joins the orchestra for Christmas classics such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It’s a relaxed environment where children get the opportunity to walk through the orchestra and see the instruments up close and sing and dance to their heart’s content. Ten-year-old Lydia Clark, winner of the 2024 Kōkako Award, will also perform her song Of Love We Are Made with the orchestra. There are two one-hour concerts at the Town Hall on Saturday and another two at the Bruce Mason Centre on December 15.
When: November 30, 10am and 11.30am.
Where: Auckland Town Hall, Queen St, Auckland Central.
Price: Tickets $15/each or $50 for a family pass from aucklandphil.nz
Sunday is the first day of December and it is at this stage in the calendar that there is no longer any point in trying to resist the arrival of Christmas. Lean into it, we say, gather up your festive spirit and get yourselves along to see Bach Musica NZ perform the Bach Christmas Oratorio (parts 4-6) at the Auckland Town Hall. Bach Musica NZ is a combined choral and orchestral ensemble and, a year since performing parts 1-3 of the Christmas Oratorio to rave reviews, is performing the second half on Sunday. The concert will be conducted by Rita Paczian, with vocal soloists Joanna Foote (soprano), Jessica Wells (alto), Henry Choo (tenor) and Jonathan Eyers (bass). For classical and choral music lovers, this is the perfect way to ring in the festive season and ignite your Christmas spirit.
When: December 1, 5pm.
Where: Auckland Town Hall, Queen St, Auckland Central.
Price: Tickets start at $30 + booking fees from ticketmaster.co.nz
If ever there was a time to get tickets to see a Tim Bray Theatre Company show, it’s now, because sadly the company has announced that The Santa Claus Show ‘24 will be its last. Generations of children have grown up on the fun, creative, silly, entertaining and lovable Tim Bray productions, including adaptations of Bad Jelly the Witch, The Twits and The Santa Claus Show, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this season. It’s a delightful show with lots of laughs and even more heart that teaches children about the true meaning of Christmas. Tim Bray has taught Kiwi kids so many things over the company’s 33 years, perhaps most importantly a love of live theatre. We think Aucklanders should give Bray and his theatre company a big heartfelt send-off by filling the Pumphouse to capacity for this last season. Gather your friends and whānau and head along to the final season of The Santa Claus Show and the final Tim Bray Theatre Company production we have the privilege to enjoy.
When: December 1-22 (opening gala event December 1, 4pm).
Where: The Pumphouse Theatre, Killarney Park, Takapuna.
Price: Tickets start at $28 + booking fees from timbray.org.nz
For a unique and transporting musical experience, get yourself tickets to see the Aotango Quintet celebrating International Tango Day at Westlake Girls’ on Friday. Some of Aotearoa’s most talented musicians perform with Aotango including pianist Somi Kim (NZTrio), violinist Andrew Beer (Auckland Philharmonia), double bassist Gordon Hill (Auckland Philharmonia), guitarist Sam Swindells and accordionist Grayson Masefield. This isn’t an ordinary concert, the evening will commence with a repertoire of tango and world music by the quintet featuring guest dancers and singers then, following the intermission, the floor is going to be open so anyone whose feet are itching to promenade or get tangled in another’s can cut a rug to a tango, milonga or waltz. There will also be Latin American food vendors serving up some tasty kai to keep your dancing bodies fuelled. Dancing is purely optional, all welcome. For those further south, there are events in Palmerston North and Wellington the following week – see aotango.com for more information.
When: December 6, 7pm.
Where: Westlake Girls’ Event Centre, 2 Wairau Rd, Takapuna, Auckland.
Price: Tickets $40 adult; $30 concession; children under 18 free with paying adult from eventfinda.co.nz
We should all take great pride in the fact that a country of our size has such an exceptional national ballet company. On Thursday, the Royal New Zealand Ballet opens its Christmas season of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Aotea Centre. It’s an exquisite production of a mesmerising ballet, created for the company in 2015 and not performed outside of Wellington since that original tour. The costumes are whimsical, the set design enchanting and the dancing flawless. For true enthusiasts, Friday’s show includes an optional pre-performance talk, the Saturday matinee includes a Q&A and, on Saturday night, early arrivers can watch the company warm up on stage. Altogether, there are five performances at Aotea and three more at Bruce Mason Centre in two weeks’ time. Support our local arts industry and enjoy a magical evening, or afternoon, of ballet.
Aotea Centre, Auckland Central
When: December 5-8.
Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna
When: December 13-14.
Price: Tickets start at $36 + booking fees from ticketmaster.co.nz
Let out all the year’s frustrations and rage at the Come Together Big End of Year Bash on Friday where some of the biggest powerhouses in Aotearoa’s music scene will perform what they’ve deemed the “greatest 20 rock songs of all time”. On the set list are songs by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Guns N’ Roses, U2, Fleetwood Mac and more. Included in the line-up is Jon Toogood, Jenny Skulander, Sam Scott, Milan Borich, EJ Barnes, Julia Deans and Dianne Swann among others. Remaining tickets are limited so get in quick and get ready to rock out with the legends behind Come Together for one last time this year.
When: December 6, 8pm.
Where: The Civic, Queen St, Auckland Central.
Price: Tickets start at $89 + booking fees from ticketmaster.co.nz