December 16, 2025 • 9 mins
Promoter and broadcast legend Stewart Macpherson joins Nick Mills in the studio to discuss the Stetson group's new Michelangelo exhibition.
The exhibition at Takina opens on Monday 22nd December and offers visitors an experience of the art in the Sistine Chapel, without forking out for flights to Rome.
They talk about what people can see from the exhibition as well as the tours from Christopher Longhurst, a former guide at the Vatican.
Get tickets here: Buy Tickets - MICHELANGELO - A Different View
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks at B.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We've been joined by Stuart McPherson. A legend of our end,
A leg end. I mean, I grew up with those
dulcet tones coming at me on the radio. So there's
nothing better than having you in the studio. But you're
an extremely well known promoter and you're promoting this new
what would you call it a show? Is it a show? No,
(00:34):
it's an exhibition, okay, So what's the difference between an
exhibition and a show? So it's just something you look
at it.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes, it's more than that though, as this thing from
a show where you go and you sit down and
people perform. This is a fixed exhibition with all of
the artwork that is hung around Takina which is opposite
tep Uppa for those who don't know the location, and
(01:01):
the big emphasis because it's all about Michelangelo and you know,
four hundred years ago he did all of this painting
in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and it's been
like that for four hundred years, and about just before
nineteen eighteen, nineteen ninety, they closed the Sistine chapel and
(01:23):
cleaned it. And at the time they cleaned it, they
were smart enough to take pure photographs of the detailed work.
And that's what's now in this exhibition.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Has it gone anywhere else in the world? Does this first?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
No, it has been elsewhere, and it's been in one
or two places in the States and in Europe, but
it is all licensed by the Vatican Museums, so it's
it's legit. And it is actually the reproductions of all
of the quadrascentos and the sybils and all the rest
of it. But the big feature is the ceiling. And normally,
(02:02):
if you go to the Sistine Chapel, you one of
twenty thousand people a day and crane and look up
at the ceiling which is eighteen meters above you, and
of course you don't see the detail. Right now, what's
happened with this is because of that photographic work and
then subsequent reproduction. It's right in front of you. You're
(02:24):
two meters away from it, laid out on the floor,
and you can see the absolute detail of Michelangelo's art.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Now you open on Monday twenty seconds, correct, So you
open the exhibition, then are you set up already. Have
you had a look at it? Have you had to
look it up? You just got me coming from hanging
some paintings. Has it looked good?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Look fantastic?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I mean you're getting excited.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
So yeah, yeah, no, it is. It's amazing and it's unique.
That's the whole thing. You've got the whole experience not
only of that work, but also, as I said, the
quatrascento's around it, so that over fifty pieces of work
which have been reproducedifically to this size, and it's the
(03:09):
full size as it is in the Sistine Chapel.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And you buy your ticket, Yeah, I mean, are you
USh it around? Are you told come on now? Hurry up?
You've to me there long enough move No, that's.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
The whole point of an any day, anytime ticket. So
you buy a ticket now. If you buy it before
next Monday, you get it at thirty nine dollars. After
that it goes up to forty five. Can I use
it any time any day? Only once? But you can
come back.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And the thing is, that's what I'm saying. Can I
go and have a look one day and then say,
well I didn't I want to have another note?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
You have to buy another ticket. There's a good reason
for that.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Nick.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
You buy a ticket and you're immediately in the draw
to win a trip for two people to roam to
the Sistine Chapel sometime next year at your choice. Wow,
isn't very That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So tell just taught me through? How big? How long
will I need to go and have a look? What
can I do it in an hour?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Or you wouldn't want you an hour to an hour
and a half depends on how long you wanted someone.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
A little whisper told me in my ear that you
can actually get someone to walk through and actually explain
it all to you as well.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Well, that's the VIP experience. And we have the guide
who for twenty years was a guide in the Sistine Chapel,
and he's an asthete. He's an amazing man. And so
people for the VIP experience come along at four thirty
(04:42):
in the afternoon. They get a glass of wine and
some cannapas. He introduces himself to them as a maximum
of forty people so that they get the best possible interaction,
and then he takes them in and he does a
presentation on the screen and then walks with them through it,
and I mean the response has been amazing, right, he
(05:05):
just is. In fact, I think.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You had I talked on my interview. Now, well let's
have her listen to you a bit of what he
talks about. What are you going to bring to Taquina?
What are people going to hear from you?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
In the VIP tours. It's not just about seeing the
art works, it's about understanding the world that Michelangelo drew
from to create these artworks. Remember, he's reading prohibited material,
so I can introduce that material. He's finding classical works
of art that are inspiring him to make these renditions
of religious subjects. So I'm going to introduce those works
(05:36):
of art as well. For example, you know the beautiful
Apollo of the Belvetere, this very classical work of art.
Michlangelo studies that was created in the second center of
the Common era. Micklandro studies this and uses it as
the portrait for Christ on the front ward, for example.
And all the nudity around us. You know that nudity
is meaning. And some of the images that you see
(06:00):
portraits of real people. Some he liked and some he
didn't like, but most importantly the science and then have
a science background, you won't see that the form around
God is a massive brain and a human cranium that
Michelangelo has opened to show the frontal lobe and the neocortex,
and you can read all about in the artworks. Otherwise.
(06:21):
That brain is also as a womb, the womb of
a mother who died in childbirth. He's dissected to show that,
you know, God, the form of the old Manning New
Skyfather isn't a womb that's about to give birth.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
It's Christopher Lot I mean, I mean it's pretty I mean,
he's a pretty amazing person.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
That's right. And just that sort of detail isn't just
one example of time with him. Yeah, is amazing, and
he alludes to Maori mythology and how it ties in,
so it's it's really in fact, we have a reading
guide in Terreo as well, so you know, but most
(07:01):
people will have the opportunity to use their headphones or
ear pods whatever on their phone for an audio guide,
even when they're on the any day, anytime tickets. So
there's just all that detail, which is amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So tell me the days that it's not open over
that holiday period. Obviously it's not going to be open
Christmas Day or New Year's Day, but I mean other days.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
It will be open. New Year's Day, the only two
days are Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Otherwise, from the
twenty second of December through till the eighth of February.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Will the Taquina Cafe Zephyr be opened all that period
of time so you can have a coffee and then
one a round.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yep. Absolutely, wow, pretty incredible.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
It's pretty incredible. I can see that the emotion and
your eyes over it. I mean, you love doing this stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Oh yeah, it's great. You see my T shirt.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I suppose it's sixty bucks asn't I suppose?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Oh no, no it's not. We're not. It's not like that.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I like the cap.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I like the cap, yes, indeed, yeh.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It's strange that you didn't bring one in for me.
But I mean it's Christmas.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Well that's what maybe for Christmas?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So it starts on Monday. What are the ticket sales?
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Like?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
They're very good. The advance is great and people are
buying them as Christmas gifts because at thirty nine dollars,
that's a very cheap gift to put into us.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
And a very different thing and experience. People are talking
about Christmas with the experience now not rather than the gift,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So this is an experience experiences and also because it's
any time, any day, you know, people can come anytime.
Where do you get the tickets online at stepsongroup dot com.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Thank you very much, Merry Christmas to you and your family.
I you know, I'm a huge fan of what you
do in the community. You know, you're amazing, So thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Thank you very much, and thanks for this opportunity, and
thank you to everyone at news Talks. They'd be who
we appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Stuart McPherson, the promoter, the dreamer. That's what you call promoters.
Are dreamers, aren't they?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Always?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to News Talks They'd be Wellington from nine am week days,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks at B.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We've been joined by Stuart McPherson. A legend of our end,
A leg end. I mean, I grew up with those
dulcet tones coming at me on the radio. So there's
nothing better than having you in the studio. But you're
an extremely well known promoter and you're promoting this new
what would you call it a show? Is it a show? No,
(00:34):
it's an exhibition, okay, So what's the difference between an
exhibition and a show? So it's just something you look
at it.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes, it's more than that though, as this thing from
a show where you go and you sit down and
people perform. This is a fixed exhibition with all of
the artwork that is hung around Takina which is opposite
tep Uppa for those who don't know the location, and
(01:01):
the big emphasis because it's all about Michelangelo and you know,
four hundred years ago he did all of this painting
in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and it's been
like that for four hundred years, and about just before
nineteen eighteen, nineteen ninety, they closed the Sistine chapel and
(01:23):
cleaned it. And at the time they cleaned it, they
were smart enough to take pure photographs of the detailed work.
And that's what's now in this exhibition.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Has it gone anywhere else in the world? Does this first?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
No, it has been elsewhere, and it's been in one
or two places in the States and in Europe, but
it is all licensed by the Vatican Museums, so it's
it's legit. And it is actually the reproductions of all
of the quadrascentos and the sybils and all the rest
of it. But the big feature is the ceiling. And normally,
(02:02):
if you go to the Sistine Chapel, you one of
twenty thousand people a day and crane and look up
at the ceiling which is eighteen meters above you, and
of course you don't see the detail. Right now, what's
happened with this is because of that photographic work and
then subsequent reproduction. It's right in front of you. You're
(02:24):
two meters away from it, laid out on the floor,
and you can see the absolute detail of Michelangelo's art.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Now you open on Monday twenty seconds, correct, So you
open the exhibition, then are you set up already. Have
you had a look at it? Have you had to
look it up? You just got me coming from hanging
some paintings. Has it looked good?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Look fantastic?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I mean you're getting excited.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
So yeah, yeah, no, it is. It's amazing and it's unique.
That's the whole thing. You've got the whole experience not
only of that work, but also, as I said, the
quatrascento's around it, so that over fifty pieces of work
which have been reproducedifically to this size, and it's the
(03:09):
full size as it is in the Sistine Chapel.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And you buy your ticket, Yeah, I mean, are you
USh it around? Are you told come on now? Hurry up?
You've to me there long enough move No, that's.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
The whole point of an any day, anytime ticket. So
you buy a ticket now. If you buy it before
next Monday, you get it at thirty nine dollars. After
that it goes up to forty five. Can I use
it any time any day? Only once? But you can
come back.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And the thing is, that's what I'm saying. Can I
go and have a look one day and then say,
well I didn't I want to have another note?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
You have to buy another ticket. There's a good reason
for that.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Nick.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
You buy a ticket and you're immediately in the draw
to win a trip for two people to roam to
the Sistine Chapel sometime next year at your choice. Wow,
isn't very That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So tell just taught me through? How big? How long
will I need to go and have a look? What
can I do it in an hour?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Or you wouldn't want you an hour to an hour
and a half depends on how long you wanted someone.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
A little whisper told me in my ear that you
can actually get someone to walk through and actually explain
it all to you as well.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Well, that's the VIP experience. And we have the guide
who for twenty years was a guide in the Sistine Chapel,
and he's an asthete. He's an amazing man. And so
people for the VIP experience come along at four thirty
(04:42):
in the afternoon. They get a glass of wine and
some cannapas. He introduces himself to them as a maximum
of forty people so that they get the best possible interaction,
and then he takes them in and he does a
presentation on the screen and then walks with them through it,
and I mean the response has been amazing, right, he
(05:05):
just is. In fact, I think.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You had I talked on my interview. Now, well let's
have her listen to you a bit of what he
talks about. What are you going to bring to Taquina?
What are people going to hear from you?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
In the VIP tours. It's not just about seeing the
art works, it's about understanding the world that Michelangelo drew
from to create these artworks. Remember, he's reading prohibited material,
so I can introduce that material. He's finding classical works
of art that are inspiring him to make these renditions
of religious subjects. So I'm going to introduce those works
(05:36):
of art as well. For example, you know the beautiful
Apollo of the Belvetere, this very classical work of art.
Michlangelo studies that was created in the second center of
the Common era. Micklandro studies this and uses it as
the portrait for Christ on the front ward, for example.
And all the nudity around us. You know that nudity
is meaning. And some of the images that you see
(06:00):
portraits of real people. Some he liked and some he
didn't like, but most importantly the science and then have
a science background, you won't see that the form around
God is a massive brain and a human cranium that
Michelangelo has opened to show the frontal lobe and the neocortex,
and you can read all about in the artworks. Otherwise.
(06:21):
That brain is also as a womb, the womb of
a mother who died in childbirth. He's dissected to show that,
you know, God, the form of the old Manning New
Skyfather isn't a womb that's about to give birth.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
It's Christopher Lot I mean, I mean it's pretty I mean,
he's a pretty amazing person.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
That's right. And just that sort of detail isn't just
one example of time with him. Yeah, is amazing, and
he alludes to Maori mythology and how it ties in,
so it's it's really in fact, we have a reading
guide in Terreo as well, so you know, but most
(07:01):
people will have the opportunity to use their headphones or
ear pods whatever on their phone for an audio guide,
even when they're on the any day, anytime tickets. So
there's just all that detail, which is amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So tell me the days that it's not open over
that holiday period. Obviously it's not going to be open
Christmas Day or New Year's Day, but I mean other days.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
It will be open. New Year's Day, the only two
days are Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Otherwise, from the
twenty second of December through till the eighth of February.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Will the Taquina Cafe Zephyr be opened all that period
of time so you can have a coffee and then
one a round.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yep. Absolutely, wow, pretty incredible.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
It's pretty incredible. I can see that the emotion and
your eyes over it. I mean, you love doing this stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Oh yeah, it's great. You see my T shirt.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I suppose it's sixty bucks asn't I suppose?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Oh no, no it's not. We're not. It's not like that.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I like the cap.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I like the cap, yes, indeed, yeh.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It's strange that you didn't bring one in for me.
But I mean it's Christmas.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Well that's what maybe for Christmas?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So it starts on Monday. What are the ticket sales?
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Like?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
They're very good. The advance is great and people are
buying them as Christmas gifts because at thirty nine dollars,
that's a very cheap gift to put into us.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
And a very different thing and experience. People are talking
about Christmas with the experience now not rather than the gift,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So this is an experience experiences and also because it's
any time, any day, you know, people can come anytime.
Where do you get the tickets online at stepsongroup dot com.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Thank you very much, Merry Christmas to you and your family.
I you know, I'm a huge fan of what you
do in the community. You know, you're amazing, So thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Thank you very much, and thanks for this opportunity, and
thank you to everyone at news Talks. They'd be who
we appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Stuart McPherson, the promoter, the dreamer. That's what you call promoters.
Are dreamers, aren't they?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Always?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to News Talks They'd be Wellington from nine am week days,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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