the dinosaurs are unleashed this thursday
‘Jurassiq Parq: A Musiqal Parody’ – classic sci-fi dinosaur film gets the Oasis treatment
The film “Jurassic Park,” directed by Steven Spielberg, was a massive hit upon its initial release in 1993. “Jurassic Park” posed the question: what might happen if dinosaurs were returned to life in the twentieth century?
The story was simple. A billionaire industrialist (Richard Attenborough) clones dinosaurs by extracting dinosaur DNA from prehistoric mosquitoes that are preserved in the sap from trees. The idea is to create a theme park where people can come and see the ancient creatures that have been brought back. But things go horribly wrong when the giant animals go on a rampage.
The film remains enormously popular and has spawned a franchise of numerous films that continue to this day. From July 10-August 2, the original film becomes a stage play at Oasis. “Jurassiq Parq: A Musiqal Parody” will give the story a queer twist starring drag queens and drag kings performing catchy musical numbers.
Michael Phillis, who wrote the stage play, assured us that “Jurassic Park” has a huge following in the LGBT community.
“Gays love dinosaurs,” Phillis said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I mean, most people love dinosaurs, there’s very few people who are lukewarm on dinosaurs. But I think queers love them especially because they’re just so drag. Like, they’re these huge queens with crazy accessories, spikes and spines and horns and claws and little gay arms. And half of them are vegan and the other half are bulking up on protein. Talk about gay icons. Queers relate to dinosaurs because we’re basically the same.”
Phillis, who also wrote Oasis’ drag parody “Sqream,” noted that “Jurassiq Parq” is the queerest thing he’s ever written.
“One of my joys in life is revisiting the pop culture of our collective youth and making it queer and diverse and fabulous,” he said. “There is so much power in nostalgia, as Hollywood and Broadway and all of us are quite happy to cash in on, but queer nostalgia feels different. We had to imagine ourselves in the worlds we saw because we were excluded from them so often. I love getting to revisit these movies and find the ways they can be gay and fabulous.”
Phillis added that turning “Jurassic Park” into a musical was the only way it could be brought to the Oasis stage.
“It’s just better that way,” he said. “More fun, more fabulous. And because it’s the quintessential ’90s movie, lets us go even deeper into that nostalgia. It’s a full out sing-along. We invite the audience to just belt it out along with us. As far as I know we are the only theater doing sing-along jukebox musicals, and let me tell you, they are a hoot.”
The special effects for “Jurassic Park” were and are impressive. Scenes in the film include a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex chasing after a jeep and shots of a herd of dinosaurs grazing on tree leaves as a group of humans watch in awed wonder. Scenes such as these were done in part with miniature models and in part via CGI, bringing the dinosaurs to life for equally awed moviegoers. But the stage at Oasis is small. How might it be possible to recreate these giant monsters for a live audience?
“Our dinosaurs are being presented through the talents of both costumed actors and extremely talented puppeteers,” said drag artist Vanilla Meringue, who plays Colonel Sanders Hammond, the show’s take on the Attenborough character. “No egg will be left unturned. We have everything from a singing baby velociraptor to a constipated triceratops to our huge T Rex which is large enough to fit an adult human inside of its mouth; hint, hint! Our dinosaurs are quite formidable, which will be a memorable surprise for audiences. We are creating something San Francisco surely has never seen before.”
Meringue, who has played male before, doesn’t always consider herself to be a drag queen.
“I live my life as a trans woman who works as a drag performer,” she said. “But if the world gave more credence to queer artists I would first label myself as an actor. I relish in the technical challenge of diving into a role and transforming myself into whoever the character is, regardless of their gender. Consequently, I have found male roles to be some of the most fun for me to play.
“In the case of John Hammond in ‘Jurassic Park,’ he is portrayed as a jovial grandfather in the film, but of course, we catch onto the fact that there are ulterior motives behind his Santa Claus-like veneer. In the Michael Crichton novel John Hammond is more clearly identified as an ill-intentioned antagonist who ends up getting eaten by his own dinosaurs. My job is to take both the film and the literary character and elevate that into a sparkling drag king performance.”
Meringue added that the entire cast of “Jurassiq Parq” runs the gamut of the Bay Area performing arts scene.
“Our cast is a delightful mashup,” she said. “Which is what makes productions at Oasis unlike theater you will see anywhere else. We have drag artists, burlesque stars, puppeteers and musical theater veterans all collaborating to make this fever dream into one of the best shows Oasis has ever produced. We are so excited for audiences to see how these talents come together.”
‘Jurassiq Parq: A Musiqal Parody,’ $52.20-$82.95, July 10-Aug. 2, Thursdays through Saturdays at 6:30 pm. Oasis, 298 11th Street, https://www.sfoasis.com/
