Everyone between five to 85 years of age are in for a real treat this month when one of the most successful animated movies of the last decade, ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, comes to life right before their eyes.
RZO Dragon Productions and Global Creatures – the masterminds behind the worldwide phenomenon ‘Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular’ – are bringing high-flying, fire breathing dragons to life in an unprecedented live entertainment event for an international audience, beginning right here in Australia.
‘How To Train Your Dragon – Arena Spectacular’ is an epic arena adventure inspired by the Academy Award nominated DreamWorks Animation film of the same name.
The local performances will ignite at Sydney Olympic Park’s Allphones Arena on Thursday, March 15 and will run with subsequent performances until Sunday, March 25.
Chief Executive Officer of DreamWorks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg, said he was excited that one of DreamWorks’ biggest movies has taken on this new form.
“In our film, audiences around the world were transported to the mythical world of Vikings and dragons, and now, we are excited to immerse them in a one-of-a-kind live event in ‘How To Train Your Dragon – Arena Spectacular’,” he said.
“The innovative team at Global Creatures and the creative storytellers at DreamWorks Animation have done an inspired job in every imaginable way to present this story on an unprecedented scale that will take audiences to unforgettable new heights.”
The 2010 animated blockbuster ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ was a worldwide box office smash, grossing approximately $500 million and was one of the best-reviewed movies of the year.
In the upcoming highly anticipated arena spectacular, audiences at Allphones Arena will have the unique opportunity to experience the world of ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ in this unique theatrical event that promises to break every rule of traditional arena entertainment.
The astounding cast of characters features 24 dragons, some with wingspans of up to 14 metres, Viking warriors and world-class circus and acrobatic performers. It will also host unrivalled production values, projections, flying, stunts, fire and pyrotechnics.
The show centres on Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn’t fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers.
Hiccup’s world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges him and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.
Playing the starring role of Hiccup is young Melbourne actor and Helpmann Award winner, Rarmian Newton.
Rarmian was last seen in the 2008 production of ‘Billy Elliot the Musical’, for which he won his coveted Helpmann Award. This time Rarmian will really be put to the test when he flies around the arena on the back of an Animatronic dragon, falling, being caught in mid-air and at times hanging by a dragon fin!
Rarmian said he did plenty of training to help him prepare for his acrobatic new role.
“Well I did part-time training at NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts), which I think really helped with the acrobatic circus aspects of the show,” he said.
Rarmian is no stranger to the big stage. Along with his major role in ‘Billy Elliot’, he has also starred alongside Australian acting royalty by the name of Hugh Jackman in ‘The Boy From Oz’, as well as being a star performer at 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Rarmian said the audition process for the role of Hiccup was unlike anything he had experienced before.
“It was probably the strangest yet most enjoyable audition I’ve been to yet,” he said.
“The audition was made up of improvisational ‘clowning’ exercises with the dragons. But of course we didn’t have the physical dragons at the time, so we were basically acting to a brick wall.”
Rarmian’s brilliant improvisation acting didn’t just earn him the lead role in Australia but a ‘round the world’ ticket to stardom, as he prepares to tour the ‘How To Train Your Dragon – Arena Spectacular’ across the globe.
“I can’t even begin to describe how much of an amazing experience it will be, I’m doing what I love and getting to see the world at the same time,” Rarmian said.
Rarmian isn’t the only Aussie cast in the worldwide production with 19-year-old Queenslander, Sarah McCreanor, earning the female lead of Astrid, the finest dragon slayer amongst the crew.
Rarmian said there were so many exciting elements to the show that would have audiences wishing they were among the cast and dragons on the arena floor.
“It’s the mixture of amazing visual effects such as projections, lasers, Animatronic dragons, all teamed with a talented group of performers that makes this show truly unique,” he said.
The Dragons in the ‘Arena Spectacular’ were created by the clever team at The Creature Technology Company and will use state-of-the-art computer software to make the creatures perform in ways that were previously unimaginable.
