Two Shortland Street starts will don wigs, make-up and bespangled evening wear to join Dragon's Diva Den as special guest female impersonators.

The five featured women dance, create pretty moving tableaux and briefly sing songs. From the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Fiji, Samoa, and Aotearoa, they're great, well-rehearsed performers.

Old-world charm, juggling and a virtuoso display of clowning makes this big top performance a must-see.

The centrepiece of new artistic director Francesco Ventriglia's first mixed bill programme for the RNZB is said to have changed ballet forever.

Four powerful local vocalists and a red-hot band take us on a journey through Dusty Springfield's remarkable life.

No one gets beheaded; some readers are displeased.

More than 10,000 tickets have been sold to the opening night of one of the hottest events on the Auckland Arts Festival calendar.

New Zealand Post, struggling with falling mail volumes, has put its art collection up for sale.

Clearly, those who enjoy what Auckland has to offer in the arts - and 91 per cent of Aucklanders say they attend at least one event a year - are spoiled for choice.

You couldn't get further away from an artist's studio or concert auditorium than the Laboratory for Animate Technologies at the University of Auckland's Bioengineering Institute.

My grandfather's book of Sundowner columns in selected form is kind of my Bible. I still have dreams he is alive, if missing a few marbles, writes Alan Duff.

Collection of letters, photos and artworks shed light on key moments in nascent arts culture of 50s-80s.

They're just photos of my friends, who were transexuals, dancing and having a good time.

A Wellington auction house is preparing to put some of the country's best paintings up for sale, including a Colin McCahon expected to reach more than $300,000.

Hopes of adding a Grammy to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's awards cabinet have been dashed after the accolade was handed to the Boston orchestra instead.

Australian Stuart Maunder has led the New Zealand Opera company for the past two years. He directed Tosca, now out in cinemas nationwide, and confesses to an unhealthy obsession with Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.

It's not every night frogs rain down on stage at a theatre, but in The Book of Everything that's what happens - sort of.

Harsh realities of modern life in the Pacific are portrayed in a stunning stage work, writes Dionne Christian.

What did the Cold War and housework have in common? British author Helen Dunmore reveals the 'ordinary' part of the dramatic period in history to Nicky Pellegrino and how she gets to intimately know her characters.

He's best known for his roles on television as a funny guy, but Tainui Tukiwaho is serious about a long-term career in arts management.

"Curiouser and curiouser," said Alice in Wonderland. She might have said the same about current exhibitions in Auckland.