Warwick Shillito as Ebenezer Scrooge

Warwick trained at Southern Ballet in Christchurch, then at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Dance in Melbourne. He joined Danceworks as a full-time professional dancer in 1983. Danceworks was a Melbourne-based post-modern company. He also performed with Dance Exchange, a Sydney-based modern company during 1985. He left Danceworks in 1986 to purse a different career.

In 2015 he returned to the stage in the ensemble in Showbiz’s production of The Phantom of the Opera, and as Patsy in their production of Spamalot. He also performed in Madama Butterfly in Christchurch as part of the New Zealand Opera Chorus in the same year.

Subsequently for Showbiz, he has performed the roles of Wilbur Turnblad in Hairspray (2016), ensemble in Evita (2016), ensemble in Sister Act (2017), a featured soloist in Broadway Hitmen (2018), and ensemble in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber in Concert and Miss Saigon (2019). He was also cast as Walter de Courcey in Chess (2020), Harry in My Fair Lady (2020) and several character roles in Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story (2021), all of which had to be cancelled due to COVID. In 2023 he performed the role of Colonel Pickering in Showbiz’s production of My Fair Lady, and in 2024 the role of Bill in their production of Mamma Mia.

For North Canterbury Musicals his roles have included Max Detweiler in The Sound of Music (2017), Larry in Company (2017), Sir Danvers Carew in Jekyll & Hyde (2018), Andre Thibault in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2019), Reuben in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (2021), and President Roosevelt in Annie (2022).

He has also performed in the Christchurch mainstage seasons of La Traviata (2016), Carmen (2017), Tosca (2018), The Barber of Seville (2019), The Marriage of Figaro (2021), Macbeth (2022), and Così fan tutte (2023) as a member of the New Zealand Opera Chorus. For Ovation Musical Theatre he performed the roles of Narrator/Mysterious man in Into The Woods (2023), and for Variety Theatre Ashburton the role of Thénardier in Les Misérables (2024).

He is delighted to be reprising the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in Toi Toi Opera’s repeat season of Philip Norman’s A Christmas Carol.