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Dinos roar!
Live ‘Jurassic World’ show stomps into Barclays
Dino-mite!: A new show will bring the dinosaurs from “Jurassic Park” to life. Photo by Feld Entertainment
By Rose Adams This show has T-Rex appeal!
An extravagant new show
inspired by the beloved movie
“Jurassic Park” will transform Barclays
Center into a prehistoric playground
from Feb. 20 to 23. “Jurassic World
Live” introduces a new story set in the
Jurassic cinematic universe, and will
feature more than 20 life-size dinosaur
puppets, according to the show’s tour
coordinator.
“The T-Rex is 42 feet long,” said Adrien
Baez. “Imagine the size of a school bus —
that’s her size.”
The story, which takes place between
the first and second “Jurassic World”
movies, stars a team of scientists trying to
save Jeanie, the world’s smartest troodon,
from a group of evil conspirators who want
to use her as a weapon.
The performance will use projections
and scenery to reproduce the jungles of Isla
Nublar, Jurassic World’s home base, inside
the sports arena. It will also feature a rich
diversity of dinosaurs who look just like
their on-screen counterparts, including
Blue the Velociraptor, the Tyrannosaurus
Rex, a triceratops, and several flying
pteranodons, Baez said.
Some dinosaurs will be played by
actors carrying 120-pound costumes,
while others are fully animatronic,
controlled remotely by puppeteers who
determine their movement, expressions,
and breathing from the sidelines. The
dinos are so big that the tour company has
to employ dozens of trucks to move them
from city to city, Baez said.
“The T-Rex we have to transport in two
trucks that are used to transport Nascar
cars,” he explained. “It takes two days to
load the dinosaurs.”
The dinosaurs are not only accurate
to their antediluvian originals, but they
also reflect details from the movies. The
T-Rex figure, for example, still has injuries
from her battle with the Indominus Rex in
“Jurassic World,” Baez noted.
“She even has scratch marks from that
fight,” he said.
The enormous thunder lizards are a hit
with kids, but the live tour has something
for everyone, said Baez, including
genuinely touching moments between
Jeanie the dinosaur and her creator.
“It has action, it has a very cool
storyline, it has dinosaurs,” he said.
“There’s that connection between Jeannie
and Dr. Kate Walker, and you’re at the
edge of your seat tearing up.”
“Jurassic World Live” at Barclays
Center 620 Atlantic Ave. at Flatbush
Avenue in Prospect Heights, (917) 618–
6100, www.barclayscenter.com. Feb. 20
at 7 pm; Feb. 21–22 at 11 am, 3 pm, and
7 pm; and Feb. 23 at noon and 4 pm.
$15–$100.
Your entertainment
guide Page 33
Police Blotter ..........................8
Opinion ................................... 24
Letters ....................................25
Standing O ............................28
HOW TO REACH US
Studies conducted by two architecture fi rms shows the shadow impact
of developments near the Botanic Garden Movement to Protect the People
Renderings show a proposed 39-story mixed-use complex planned for
nearby the Brooklyn Botanic garden Illustration by Continuum Company
THROWING SHADE
COURIER L 4 IFE, FEBRUARY 14-20, 2020
BY BEN VERDE
Now he’s a gardener too!
Mayor Bill de Blasio undermined
the expert opinion
of professional green thumbs,
architects, and executives
at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
during an appearance on the
Brian Lehrer show on Feb. 7,
when he suggested that building
a massive residential complex
a stones throw away from
the beloved horticultural museum
would cause no serious
injury to its collection of rare
and exotic plants.
“I don’t think it ruins the
garden forever, I just don’t,”
Hizzoner said.
Garden stewards have
maintained a fi rm opposition
to the proposed megadevelopment
at 960 Franklin Ave. —
a mixed-use complex containing
1,578 residential units, half
of which would be offered at
so-called “affordable” rates —
since the project was unveiled
in 2018, with executives fearing
the destruction of plant life
as a result of shadows cast by
the development’s 39-story towers.
Their concerns are supported
by shadow studies conducted
by two architectural
fi rms at the behest of local
anti-gentrifi cation advocates,
which demonstrated that the
towers would subject critical
areas within the garden — including
the Steinhardt Conservatory,
home to 18,500 plants
— to hours of additional gloom
per day.
But the most damning testimony
against the development
came during a hearing of
the City Planning Commission
in March, 2019, when Rowan
Blaik, director of living collections
at Brooklyn Botanic Garden,
stated that shadows cast
by 960 Franklin Ave. would
radically undermine Brooklyn
Botanic’s ability to breed new
plants, effectively destroying
the garden within a matter of
years.
“Should we lose propagation
growing facilities, more
than half of our collection will
be gone in a decade,” Blaik testifi
ed. “There are simply no
commercial alternatives to onsite
propagation facilities for
botanic gardens.”
The mayor has shied away
from weighing in on a rezoning
application that developer
Continuum Company needs to
erect the massive complex until
last week, when a caller asked
the city’s lame duck leader if
he would support the construction
of roughly 800 subsidized
housing units at the expense
of Kings County’s cherished attraction.
“We’ve got to come to grips
with, if we want this to be a city
for everyone, including working
people and low-income people
we’re going to have to build
some things where people can
actually live and afford,” de
Blasio said.
Botanic Garden reps shot
back, arguing that housing
should not come at the expense
of the garden’s survival.
“Protecting BBG’s greenhouses,
nurseries, and conservatories
is crucial for preserving
BBG’s collections and
community programs,” said
Elizabeth Reina-Longoria, a
spokesperson for the greenspace.
“The very real need for
affordable housing in New York
City should not come at the expense
of one of Brooklyn’s most
vital community assets.”
The mayor voiced his support
for the project as he struggles
to fulfi ll a campaign promise
to build 300,000 units of
affordable housing before 2026.
With only two years left in his
fi nal term, his administration
has presided over the creation
of less than 148,000 subsidized
apartments, according to a
Curbed report.
Continuum’s rezoning application
would further undermine
a seven-story height cap
affecting a 13-block area directly
east of the garden — the
product of a historic 1991 downzoning
instituted specifi cally
to protect Brooklyn Botanic
from the shadow of large buildings
— and follows the successful
upzoning of properties at 40
Crown and 931 Carroll streets,
where developers Cornell Realty
and Carmel Partners plan
to erect two 16-story towers.
Before construction can begin
on that development, however,
attorneys for the developers
will have to overcome a
legal challenge brought by local
activists, who argue that
Cornell Realty failed to conduct
an adequate environmental
review of the project before
submitting their rezoning application.
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Mayor supports development poised to devastate Brooklyn Botanic Garden
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