It’s announced today that iconic Coronation Street actress RULA LENSKA is coming to New Zealand to reprise her role as Madge in the stage production of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Live on Stage.
 
The exciting news coincides with a further announcement that due to popular demand, a second and final week of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Live on Stage has been added to the Auckland season that now runs 23 April to 5 May.

In a moment of spontaneity, Rula’s character Madge Hardcastle (played by Celia Imrie in the movie) leaves her daughter’s home where she’s supposed to be babysitting, suddenly choosing to find a rich husband at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in modern Bangalore.
 
Madge joins a motley crew of elderly Brits who have grown disillusioned with their own country and decide they want a change. Half of them have been widowed and are lost in the wilderness of their twilight years, trying to find a new meaning to their lives.

They don't want to inconvenience their families and feel invisible in the country of their birth, which has become a place they no longer recognise.

So they are outsourced to a new “residential hotel” in India - which is far cheaper for the state and less hassle for their families. What they don't realise is that the Best Exotic Marigold Hotelwill change their lives forever.

Are you ready to take the trip of a lifetime with Rula?
 
Based on the Sunday Times bestseller that became a blockbuster movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a joyous comedy about taking risks, finding love and embracing second chances, even in the most surprising of places.
 
Presented by Stewart & Tricia Macpherson for The Stetson Group in association with Ben McDonald Presents, the Ryman Healthcare season of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will premiere at Auckland’s The Civic on 23 April, then move to Wellington’s St James on 7 May and finally, the James Hay Theatre on 15 May.
 
Seasons will be strictly limited. Tickets start at $65* viaTicketmaster and Ticketek.