Today the Glam Adelaide gals left their heels behind to roam amongst the cast, puppeteers and of course giant dinosaurs at the mega-show Walking With Dinosaurs. With a worldwide tour behind them, the stunning theatrical event has landed in Adelaide – on 30 trucks I might add – and has their debut Adelaide show tonight.
Based on the BBC TV series, the live show has been brought to life by renowned designers and scientists to create 20 unbelievably real, life-size dinosaurs. The production shows the ferocious and surprisingly cute interactions between dinosaurs and their evolution.
The puppets were certainly not as expected! This is high tech puppetry and they’re definitely the biggest puppets you will ever see. Three people control each dinosaur at one time through a signal created by a control deck and the dinosaur then replicates their movements. This technology isn’t so prehistoric!
Glam was lucky to chat to charming Aussie actor and South Australia fan Andrew Blackman who plays the show’s narrator and host, a wild looking Palaeontologist named Huxley. Andrew currently lives and works in Melbourne where he is the director of a theatre company called Complete Works Theatre Company that creates curriculum based programs for secondary schools. If you recognise him from though, it may be from his time on A Country Practice where for four years he played Dr Harry Morrison. Who didn’t love that show!?
Andrew tells us how the rock and roll staging, musical theatre approach and new animatronics is what drew him to this role. His love for dinosaurs might have something to do with this as well and we learnt he is extremely knowledgable of these ancient creatures. He’s picked up knowledge both from research and from the last 10 months traveling through the US and Canada, where big deposits of dinosaur remains reside. He also speaks regularly with the show’s professional palaeontologist contact, ‘Dr Z’. As research and findings have developed over the last couple of years the show has also evolved accordingly. For instance, the show’s raptor was adapted to be accurate when it remains were discovered proving that raptors had feathers along their back and face.
A modern day Indiana Jones, Andrew has adapted his palaeontology garb to be practical, ditching the more traditional hat for one he can fold up and fit in his satchel. His show experience also has Andrew ready for any Jurassic Park like experience, with him claiming he’d be able to survive if thrown into such a situation. Sounds like a good guy to have around!
Other fun facts we learned was that Andrew’s favourite dinosaur is the Ankylosaurus, known for its ball-like tail which is used to smash female T-Rex’s legs if they get a little too close for comfort (see how much we learned today!)
Our takeaways from today are that you’re never too old for dinosaurs, and the show is truly spectacular to watch. The 60 person crew are all incredibly friendly and they should be so proud of what they have brought to Adelaide.
Tickets are still available and the shows will be running until this Sunday April 26th at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. You can find more information online here.
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