Bringing Back Dinosaurs

Writer and director Leigh Scott is adamant that Jurassic! That Is One Big Pile Of Musical, his parody musical of Steven Spielberg’s classic film, will stand out because it’s “so inappropriate offensive, and hilarious”. Oh yeah, and it’s totally endorsed by the original Ian Malcolm, Jeff Goldblum, to whom Scott read Jurassic! to and received the response: “I love it!”

So why Jurassic Park? Besides the answer ‘Why the hell not?’, of course. “I’ve always loved Jurassic Park, and one day I was sitting with a friend talking about movies that have been made into musicals – Legally Blonde, Shrek, Little Shop Of Horrors – and we thought a horror film would be really funny. We said Amityville Horror, Jaws and Jurassic Park, and that one stuck with me,” explains Scott. “Also, being a huge musical fan (I’ve seen 35+ and been in over 20), I loved going through all my favourites, analysing them, then applying that to one of the most ridiculous movies of all time.”

Admittedly, Scott did begin writing Jurassic! as a serious musical to begin with, before a friend told him straight-out that it was “absolutely, incredibly terrible... but it would make a good parody.” From there, Scott rewatched Jurassic Park over and over, with quotes inspiring him to pen songs like Spared No Expense, Clever Girl and Let’s Eat The Kids. He then took the lyrics to his musically gifted mate Evan Kerr and they transformed them into contemporary rock nuggets.

Jurassic! first ran as a workshop in Wollongong; after rave reviews and calls for a return season, Scott decided that taking it to Fringe was the best step. “We want Sydney Jurassic Park fans and musical theatre fans alike to come along and enjoy one of the best movies of all time being brought to life. The Fringe was the best way to get our dinosaurs out there!”