With the impending film release of Jurassic World, excitement is currently high for anything related to dinosaurs and Chris Pratt’s abs. What more could audiences want – except for perhaps a musical reimagining of the original story told from the perspective of the dinosaurs? Squabbalogic Independent Musical Theatre is bringing singing, dancing and sexually confused T-Rexes to the Seymour Centre for Triassic Parq. Artistic director Jay James-Moody tells us more.
“While in Jurassic Park it’s all about the humans trying to stop the bad dinosaurs, we find out in Triassic Parq exactly why they are rampaging,” explains James-Moody. “It’s because they’ve all been genetically bred as female,” he laughs. “Since they didn’t all have the full DNA code they had to get it from some frogs. Now some of them are undergoing sex changes, which is throwing their tribes and family groups into chaos … One of our T-Rexes suddenly grows a penis and it all gets out of control from there.”
But just where did this otherworldly idea come from? “It was originally a festival show in New York and I get the impression that the writers were just huge Jurassic Park fans, especially because there are a lot of great in-jokes in the show,” James-Moody says. “Even the stage directions are incredible and it’s kind of disappointing that the audience won’t get to read them.”
Despite the fact Triassic Parq is clearly a comedy, it also contains some important underlying messages. “As crazy as the show is – and it is hilarious – it has some really interesting current themes such as familial and societal reactions to people who don’t conform or who are transgender,” says the director. “There’s also a faith versus science battle in there as well. All of this is very deeply covered under crazy humour, but nonetheless it’s there and it’s what really drew me to the show.”
This is, of course, one of the most effective things about the medium of comedy: its ability to provide social commentary and explore important issues within the guise of humour.
“It’s a really subversive way of getting people to think about these sorts of things. The show is undeniably entertaining and balls-to-the-wall hilarious, but if you can sneak a little message in there as well, I always find that’s good too.
“[Triassic Parq] is a musical, but it really will appeal to fans of comedy, movies and pop culture. It has a wider appeal than some of our other shows that are a bit more niche and are more for musical theatre nerds.”
The cast of comedic dinosaurs, meanwhile, promises to leave a big footprint, despite its relatively small number.
“It’s a pretty small cast,” says James-Moody. “We have three Velociraptors who represent different perspectives – Innocence, Faith and Science. “We also have two T-Rexes – Caitlin and T-Rex 2.” But it doesn’t stop there. “We have a new dinosaur named Mimosaurus who just mimes everything out, and then there’s Pianosaurus who plays the keyboard and is the bandleader.
“I should also mention that the show is inexplicably narrated by Morgan Freeman… but I’m not going to elaborate anymore on that yet. You’ll just have to come and see the show.”
PHOTO: Michael Francis
Triassic Parq runsWednesday June 17 – Saturday July 4 at Seymour Centre.
