Christchurch performers are preparing a one-night cabaret to help young brothers Barnaby and Franklin Domigan represent New Zealand at the Hip Hop Unite World Championships.

Local reporting on Friday said all profits from One Night Only will support the brothers as they prepare to compete in Tauranga later this year. Barnaby, 13, and Franklin, 11, earned their place after winning silver in the duos category at the New Zealand Hip Hop Unite Championships. The fundraising will help cover travel, accommodation, competition entry fees, uniforms and other costs connected with representing New Zealand.

The show will be staged at Silhouette Studio Theatre in Christchurch at 7.30pm on Sunday 2 August. The lineup includes Alyssa Parkinson, Chris Symon, Cole Moffatt, Grant Lowe, Phoebe Finnie, Sarah Kelly and Sophie Harris, alongside Barnaby and Franklin. Actor, director and improviser Daniel Pengelly will host the evening with Christchurch drag performer Little Miss Cinnamon.

The event is more than a standard fundraiser because it draws together several strands of Christchurch's performing arts community. The report says the audience can expect musical theatre numbers and well-known songs from performers familiar through The Court Theatre, Showbiz Christchurch and other local productions. That gives the night a civic feel: established local artists lending their audience and time to help younger performers reach an international stage.

Barnaby and Franklin are already familiar to Christchurch theatre audiences. Local media reported that the brothers recently shared the demanding lead role of Charlie Bucket in Showbiz Christchurch's production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, alongside Shepherd Brooks. They have also performed at The Court Theatre, sharing the roles of John Bechdel in Fun Home and Ainsley in Appropriate.

Their hip hop success is also part of a wider dance-school story. The brothers were members of Anna Lee School of Dance junior crew Full Force, which won its national division in 2025 and qualified to represent New Zealand at the World Hip Hop Championships in Prague. Maddison Vallance and Bella Mather from the same dance school have also won places at the Unite World Champs, according to the report.

For Christchurch families, the story shows how expensive national representation can become even after talent and selection are proven. Travel, accommodation, entry fees and uniforms can turn a sporting or performing arts opportunity into a financial challenge. Community fundraisers help close that gap, but they also expose how much grassroots support sits behind young New Zealand competitors.

The event also lands during a busy winter arts period, when school-holiday programming, local theatre and community performances are competing for attention. A focused one-night show can cut through because it gives audiences a clear reason to attend: a polished night out with a direct benefit for two local performers.

The safest way to frame the story is not as celebrity charity, but as community infrastructure. Young performers need teachers, venues, families, peers, audiences and older artists willing to back them. Barnaby and Franklin's cabaret brings those pieces together. If the fundraising succeeds, the brothers will travel to the world championships carrying not only their own work, but the visible support of Christchurch's performing arts scene.