The Land Of The Dinosaurs
Louise Gold
appeared in this, on tour at various venues during the Spring of 1977
The Land Of
The Dinosaurs was a musical play for children. So it only played matinee
performances.
On occasion
the play used walk-a-about publicity stunts to advertise itself. For example,
in Oxford Caro Gurney (with her name spelt as Gurrey) was
pictured as a knife waving maiden along with one of the show’s seven
foot dinosaurs, though apparently
“A couple of Amazonian
natives had to support the seven-footer, which purported to be an extremely
rare Tyrannosaurus Rex” OXFORD MAIL, Wednesday 11 May 1977, p3.
According to the Local paper the walk-about continued with
“Feeling a little
behind the news the 175m years out-of-date reptile picked up a copy of the
Oxford Mail at the corner of Cornmarket, scanned the front page and ate it.”
OXFORD MAIL, Wednesday 11 May 1977, p3.
Cast
Includes: Louise Gold.
Caro
Gurney
Production Team
Director – Ken Hill
Music & Lyrics - Ken Hill and Ian Armit
Original Production - 3 October 1974, Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Loosely wrenched from Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Tour Dates
Kings Theatre
Glasgow, 25 April to 7 May 1977
New Oxford
Theatre 9 to 14 May 1977
There may well
have been other venues played on the tour, these are the only ones I could find
listed in The Stage.
There was also
a production of The Good Old Days - With The Fol De Rols touring
the same venues during the evenings for which The Land Of The Dinosaurs
was the matinee performance. However, the performers of the afternoon
production do not appear to have been involved with the evening production.
It is worth
noting that for one matinee performance Ms Gold’s understudy took her place, so
that Ms Gold could go to an audition. That audition changed her life, it was
for The Muppet Show.
Louise Gold and Caro Gurney had previously appeared
together in Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Touring Production).
Critics Comments
“The play tells how a
family go in search of a land of monsters in
the crater of an extinct volcano and discover more than they bargained
for.” D.A.C., OXFORD MAIL, Tuesday 10 May 1977, p4.
Links
about The Land Of The Dinosaurs
Garlands For
modern British composers (number 84), includes Ian Armit: http://www.musicweb-international.com/garlands/84.htm
The Guide To
Musical Theatre, London Show’s Chronology 1974: http://www.nodanw.com/london_shows_chronology/1974.htm
San Crancisco Chronicle interview with Ken Hill: http://www.kenhillsphantomoftheopera.co.uk/interviews/kenhill.htm
Wikipedia
entry for the novel upon which this play is supposed to have been based: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_World_(Arthur_Conan_Doyle)
