On a night when a biting wind lashes Circa Theatre, Wellington performer and creator, Andrea Sanders, takes us out of grim August 2025 – winter, cost of living crisis, and record unemployment – and plonks us right back into the 1990s: a decade of technology and musical genre leaps as extreme as a Wellington southerly.

Cringeworthy 90s is the Beatgirl’s fifth musical theatre production to honour and mock a decade. This one cleverly uses the same formula as the other works – Cringeworthy 50s, 60s, 70s (the first, in 2019) and 80s – iconic songs, four-part harmonies, costumes, comedy, and choreography, for a trip down memory lane. [More]

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I saw the first Cringeworthy show, based on the ’70s, in Circa Two back in 2019. Since then Andrea Sanders has brought the ’50s, ’60s and 80s to Circa and Centrepoint, not in that order. Having missed these interim eras, I was keen to see how the concept had grown. WELL, has it ever grown!

The set is epic; like a stadium tour stage of the times, it features towering metallic zig zag rigging columns and grungy paintwork with plenty of graffiti. Just like that we are in the ’90s. But whose Nineties?

In the ’90s I was immersed in Irish music thanks to Kieran at Madness Music, when CDs were more expensive than they are now, and heavy metal (it’s a long story). But the ubiquitous boy and girl bands, grunge, country rock and pop, and the thriving Kiwi music scene were ever present to us all. And these are the delicious sounds of this show.

The energetic cast is Andrea Sanders, Kali Kopae, Jared Palleson, Devon Nieman and Mackenzie (Macka) Htay (second half only). Spanning two generations, they are all nevertheless on fire with the aerobic bounce of 90s choreography, still singing out as they do so, which is a serious feat for live performing. Early on we get a demonstration of iconic dance moves such as the Running Man, the Butterfly and the Cabbage Patch.

Snatches of ‘90s reminiscences, including TV ads from the Warratahs’ Interislander to Rainbow’s End, provide lightweight segues between songs and keep the show moving at a cracking pace.

Topmost moments for me in an evening of top moments:

• ‘How Bizarre’, performed with absolute coolness early on in the show;
  
• ‘Weather with You’, where we are encouraged to get out our phone torchlights and wave them in time. The full and thoroughly engaged audience respond enthusiastically and the theatre is ablaze with twinkling movement;
  
• Kali’s richly voiced Zombie followed by Jared’s hilariously Emo rendition of ‘Creep’, then both being corralled into line dancing to ‘Achey Breaky Heart’ in pink cowboy hats. If ever a moment encapsulates the broad stroke of 90s music, this is it!
  
• Mackenzie and Devon sit up the back with Macka on guitar to sing Extreme’s ‘More than Words’. A rare still moment that nevertheless keeps everybody fizzing in its joyous sweetness;
  
• Throughout this show, the absolutely unstoppable Andrea Sanders, who produces, directs and co-choreographs (with Devon), sets a cracking pace and she both leads and enables a cohesive ensemble piece. Andrea, you make all of Gen X very, very proud.

Props to Mitch Sigley for excellent lighting design, flawlessly operated by Gabriella Eaton, which gets the thumbs up from my highly discerning lighting tech husband.

My parting advice to you all, apart from to go see it for yourselves, is that if you do, make lots of noise at the end because the encore gets a chef’s kiss from me.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer