Audio By Carbonatix
The folks from Old Murder House Theatre warned me last week that the only way to make it through their live reenactment of Jurassic Park was to hold onto my butt. And held on I did. From the moment the first park worker was devoured by an imaginary Velociraptor to the moment director Sam Eidson asked the audience to cheer on T-Rex for the final scene, the cast of Old Murder House had every Texas Theatre patron bouncing in their seats with laughter, myself included. Here are my five favorite moments of the show.
5. The Dark Knight Rises trailer
The band of Old Murder House wasn’t lying last week when they said they delivered the full show. Hearing a spot-on Michael Caine impression really set me and my fellow audience members back. And seeing Batman in the traditional black-and-gray spandex suit just confirmed how much thought went into the production. A male Catwoman, played by Nathan Sakulich, friskily caressed Batman, warned him of what’s to come (“You and your friends better batten down the hatches.”) Move over Anne Hathaway.
4. Role multiplicity
Because the cast is short-handed, and even more so yesterday, as two of the actors did not make it to the theater in time for the show, multiple roles were played by the same actor. At one point, Eidson played three characters in less than 20 seconds. My worries about his theatrical schizophrenia were quelled when he nailed each personality shift. In addition to keeping the show lively, each actor was able to display his or her theatrical ability.
3. The props
Mad props on the props, yo! After seeing a YouTube clip of past shows, it was awesome seeing a 7-foot tall brachiosaurus that wasn’t made of cardboard shuffle down the right-center aisle. When T-Rex made its first appearance, I almost bolted for the exit. OK, maybe it wasn’t that life-like, but it’s a hell of a lot better than cardboard.
2. Byron Brown as Ian Malcolm
Byron Brown really captured the haughtiness of Jeff Goldblum’s character. The voice impersonation and even the look were ridiculously similar to the original. As Brown lay on the stage for multiple scenes, just like Goldblum, shouting out his famous one-liners and a few extra nonsensical outbursts, I could see audience members cowering in their seats from the fits of laughter they were having.
1. Dino Butt-Sex
A sex scene in Jurassic Park? Yes. It happened. As T-Rex hunted down a herd of gallimimus, one was separated from the pack. And because a wire mesh and gorilla tape T-Rex can’t devour another dino made of the same material, the cast improvised. T-Rex didn’t even buy dinner first. He just jumped behind that poor gallimimus and thrusted and thrusted and thrusted. What completed the scene were the facial expressions made by stagehand Lauren Adams as her dino costume bore the brunt of it all.
