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Live Entertainment
www.parkworld-online.com
Australian Outback
Spectacular
An AUS$23 million (Euro.18613m/US$18.5m) extravaganza, Warner
Village Theme Parks’ (WVTP) Australian Outback Spectacular
on the Gold Coast is an exciting evening dinner show filled with
outback music, drama and action from beginning to end.
Located 20 minutes from Surfers Paradise, between Warner Bros
Movie World and Wet ’n’ Wild, the show takes place from Tuesday
to Sunday in a purpose-built 1,000 seat arena on the Pacific
Motorway in Oxenford, Queensland.
The 90-minute production is produced in-house by production
manager Shane Philips and features a huge cast of talented
performers and animals including 34 Australian Stock horses, five
Percheron horses, 10 Longhorn and 20 Santa Gertrudis cattle, two
camels, 50 sheep, four pigs and a dog. As they watch the action
before them, audiences enjoy a three-course barbeque dinner present day culture of Outback Australia. Our show delivers this in
featuring quality Australian beef, prepared in no less than four a professional presentation utilising state of the art lighting, sound
kitchens. and special effects.”
The show recently celebrated its third birthday having entertained The story behind Australian Outback Spectacular revolves around
nearly one million guests and the cast and crew served over the competition that develops between stockmen and women on
800,000 Aussie steaks. To mark this milestone a number of new rival stations: Wondoola and Austral Downs. Issued with free hats
scenes have been added for 2009 including a replica Cobb & Co and coloured head bands, the audience is split into two groups as
horse-drawn coach, the Great Australian Pig Race and a new each side barracks and cheers as they battle it out to bring home
extreme Roman Riding section featuring four horses and two the prize of “top station.”
stockmen jumping fire! Accompanied by stunning orchestral pieces composed exclusively
The concept for Australian Outback Spectacular was born over 10 for the show by country music legend Lee Kernaghan, every twist
years ago when WVTP chairman John Menzies, who is also the and turn of the show is full of action, featuring wild horses,
show’s executive producer, identified the opportunity to promote stampeding cattle, an array of bush vehicles and an unforgettable
Australian culture to domestic and international visitors. Research display of horsemanship. There’s even a mustering helicopter that
also highlighted the need for additional quality evening rounds up a mob of charging cattle.
entertainment near the Warner Village parks. Australian Outback Spectacular is sponsored by RM Williams, the
“Audiences wanted to experience a performance that went beyond country’s leading outback outfitter, synonymous with Australian bush
traditional folk stories,” says Menzies. “They craved an exciting and life over 70 years. Adult entry tickets, including show, dinner, drinks
exhilarating experience that provided a unique insight into the and a stockman’s hat cost AUS$99.95.
Space Riders
concludes Billington. “Most people in the audience had never
seen anything like it, and it really set the season off on a great
footing. We were happy to put together such a production at a
The season got off to an explosive start at VGP Universal
cost-effective price and look forward to working with the park
Kingdom in Chennai, India, with the addition of a 45-day stunt
again in future.”
spectacular courtesy of Mirage Entertainment. According to
Mirage founder Brad Billington, Space Riders was, “unchallenged
in size, scope and talent.”
This full-throttle live show featured daredevil freestyle motorbike
jumps, a high wire motorcycle and trapeze act, super-charged
space wheel and sway pole stunts enhanced with incredible
pyrotechnics and other effects that left audiences awe-struck up to
five times a day.
Mirage has worked with VGP for the last four to five years,
creating productions including a Cirque-style show, Chinese
acrobats, a Wild West show, pirate show and more, but Space
Riders was by far and away the park’s most successful offering yet.
With no other spectaculars of this nature currently playing on
the subcontinent, Mirage had to recruit an almost all-American
cast of performers, but the park used this to its advantage by
promoting the “seven highly skilled professionals from the USA”
that are featured in the show.
“VGP is one of the most innovative parks in India and deserves
credit for being one of the first to put on a show of this scale,”
JULY 2009
33
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