The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular (film)
The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular was a musical theatre production based on Banjo Paterson's poem The Man from Snowy River. The production was filmed at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, during October 2002, and was released on DVD and VHS in Australia on 26 January 2003 (Australia Day). The musical was presented by Jacobsen Entertainment and David Atkins Enterprises. The creative team for the show were David Atkins (co-creator, co-writer, director and executive producer), Ignatius Jones (co-writer and director) and Kevin Jacobsen (executive producer). Extra dialogue was written for the show by Jonathan Biggins and Phillip Scott. All poetry narrated in the musical was written by Banjo Paterson, including "Waltzing Matilda" (for which the music was written by M. Cowan). Bruce Rowland, who composed the instrumental music for both the 1982 film The Man from Snowy River and its 1988 sequel The Man from Snowy River II (American title: Return to Snowy River), composed special arrangements of some of his music for the musical. He also conducted the orchestra. Lee Kernaghan and Garth Porter wrote the music and lyrics for the country songs. During the concert scene, Lee Kernaghan also sang some country songs which he had already recorded on some of his albums. The screen images, photographed by Ross Dunstan, were provided by Australian Geographic and are featured in their book The Snowy Mountains. The "crack riders" (expert riders) in the musical wore Akubra hats and Driza-Bone riding coats. Awards and nominations for the musical Awards Winner: 2002 ARIA award for The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular (Original Cast Recording) for Best Original Show/Cast Album (2002) Winner: ARIA Award for Bruce Rowland for Best Score for The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular (Original Cast Recording) Winner: David Atkins and Ignatius Jones for Direction and Staging Winner: Conrad Helfrich for Musical Direction in a Musical Production Winner: Morris Lyda for Technical Design Nominations Nominee: Peter Milne for Projections/Set/Designs Nominee: Wyn Milsom for Sound Design Nominee: Martin Crewes for Male Artist in a Leading Role Plot On John Conroy's property, the 2-year-old colts and fillies are mustered and brought to the homestead for horse breaking. Two of the colts are of very good stock, especially the beautiful and spirited colt from the famous racehorse Regret (John Conroy says that the colt is worth a thousand pounds (£1000) and that he wants the colt to eventually be the stud horse for the property). Jim Ryan arrives at John Conroy's property following the death of his father. When he and Conroy's daughter, Kate, see each other, it is love at first sight for them both. Jim, however, finds resentment at his presence at the station, both from John Conroy, the owner of the property, and the station's stockmen and station hands, with Dan Mulligan (the leading hand), disdainfully commenting "We don't want any swagmen here". Saltbush and McGinness McGee also make disparaging remarks about Jim Ryan's horse, with Saltbush sarcastically asking Jim if he bought his