William May (artistic director)
Encyclopedia
William H. "Billy" May (August 30, 1953 – December 31, 2009) was an American
-born Australia
n artistic director
, theater producer and composer. May was best known for creating the Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience, an arena show based on the BBC
documentary
television mini-series, Walking with Dinosaurs
. The production, which debuted in 2007 and features 15 lifelike dinosaurs designed by May, has been called "one of the largest and most acclaimed shows to come out of Australia
."
, USA. May earned a scholarship
to Carnegie Hall
to study dance when he was twelve years old.
He next enrolled at the High School of Performing Arts
, also on a scholarship. He toured with a number of acts while he was a teenager, including the Osmonds and Sonny and Cher.
to live with his life partner
, producer Malcolm Cooke. The two became artistic and business partner
s as well, ultimately working on more than forty theater productions in Australia
, the United Kingdom
and New York
. May worked from Australia to oversee international and Australian theatrical productions.
He also partnered with Cooke to manage the career of Australian singer Samantha Sang
. May hired Barry Gibb
from the Bee Gees
to write and produce a single for Sang, which resulted in the 1977 international hit single, Emotion.
In 1983, May returned to New York City to produce the musical
, Marilyn - an American Fable. As a result, May, who was just 24 years old in 1983, became the youngest producer on Broadway at the time.
May's other credits included The Hobbit
; the 2002 theatrical production
of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
at The Arts Centre
in Melbourne
; Boswell for the Defense, which starred actor Leo McKern
as James Boswell
; and the 1997 musical, Always. May wrote and composed the music, book and lyrics for Always, a musical focusing on the lives of Edward VII and Wallis Simpson. However, poor reviews caused Always, to close soon after its opening.
May suffered another professional setback after he sold his screenplay
for a film to be called Skippy to Rupert Murdoch
at 20th Century Fox
. However, the screenplay was rejected by studio executive Barry Diller
, who overruled Murdoch and cancelled the project.
of the same name which aired on the BBC
and the Discovery Channel
.
May was inspired to create the prehistoric live show after watching cranes
constructing the Southern Cross railway station
in Melbourne during the night. May felt the cranes resembled dinosaurs, which served as the inspiration for the arena show.
May needed two years to create the life-like dinosaurs, which needed to be both realistic and easily transportable for the tour. May hired approximately fifty people to create the dinosaurs using his designs.
He chose Sonny Tilders, one of the film and television
industries' leading professionals in the field of animatronic puppetry
, to head the development of the dinosaurs. May designed the fifteen life-size dinosaurs used in the production. Ten species of dinosaurs are included in the show, including the Liliensternus
, Plateosaurus
, Allosaurus
, Stegosaurus
, Utahraptor
and Torosaurus
. The largest dinosaur in the production, the Brachiosaurus
, which most resembles the cranes which inspired the show, measures 56 feet long and 36 feet tall.
The live adaptation, which debuted in 2007, was called Walking with Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular in Australia, but was later marketed under the name, Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience in North America and Europe.
Walking with Dinosaurs cost $20 million to create and was an instant commercial success. The Hollywood Reporter
described Walking with Dinosaurs as "one of the largest and most acclaimed shows to come out of Australia."
According to Polstar, Walking with Dinosaurs was the best-selling non-musical touring production in North America in 2009. The production grossed $46.2 million and sold more than more than one million tickets throughout the United States and Canada leg of the tour.
As of early 2010, May's Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience is still touring arenas and stadiums throughout North America
and Europe
.
at St Vincent's Hospital
in Melbourne, Australia, on December 31, 2009, at the age of 56. He was survived by his partner of 37 years, Malcolm Cooke. May's funeral was held at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n artistic director
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
, theater producer and composer. May was best known for creating the Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience, an arena show based on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
television mini-series, Walking with Dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs is a six-part documentary television miniseries that was produced by BBC, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and first aired in the United Kingdom, in 1999. The series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2000, with Branagh's voice replaced with that...
. The production, which debuted in 2007 and features 15 lifelike dinosaurs designed by May, has been called "one of the largest and most acclaimed shows to come out of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
."
Early life
May was born on August 30, 1953, in Brooklyn, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, USA. May earned a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
to study dance when he was twelve years old.
He next enrolled at the High School of Performing Arts
High School of Performing Arts
The High School of Performing Arts, more formally known as The School of Performing Arts: A Division of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, informally known as "PA", was a public alternative high school in New York, New York, USA that existed from 1948 through...
, also on a scholarship. He toured with a number of acts while he was a teenager, including the Osmonds and Sonny and Cher.
Career
In 1972, at the age of 19, he moved to AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to live with his life partner
Life partner
A life partner is a romantic or otherwise very close friend for life. The partners can be of the same or opposite sexes, married or unmarried, and monogamous or polyamorous....
, producer Malcolm Cooke. The two became artistic and business partner
Business partner
Business partner is a term used to denote a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a highly contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties...
s as well, ultimately working on more than forty theater productions in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. May worked from Australia to oversee international and Australian theatrical productions.
He also partnered with Cooke to manage the career of Australian singer Samantha Sang
Samantha Sang
Samantha Sang is a stage name of Australian singer, Cheryl Lau Sang, from Melbourne, who had an earlier career as Cheryl Gray. She had a number eight hit in Australia with "You Made Me What I Am" in 1967. By 1969, she had relocated to United Kingdom and worked with Bee Gees but then returned...
. May hired Barry Gibb
Barry Gibb
Barry Alan Crompton Gibb, CBE , is a singer, songwriter and producer. He was born in the Isle of Man to English parents. With his brothers Robin and Maurice, he formed The Bee Gees, one of the most successful pop groups of all time. The trio got their start in Australia, and found their major...
from the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
to write and produce a single for Sang, which resulted in the 1977 international hit single, Emotion.
In 1983, May returned to New York City to produce the musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, Marilyn - an American Fable. As a result, May, who was just 24 years old in 1983, became the youngest producer on Broadway at the time.
May's other credits included The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
; the 2002 theatrical production
Theatrical production
A theatrical production is any theatre stage play, musical, comedy or drama produced from a written book or script. These works are protected by common law or statuary copyright unless in the public domain....
of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Published in 1950 and set circa 1940, it is the first-published book of The Chronicles of Narnia and is the best known book of the series. Although it was written and published first, it is second in the series'...
at The Arts Centre
The Arts Centre (Melbourne)
The Victorian Arts Centre is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the inner Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia....
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
; Boswell for the Defense, which starred actor Leo McKern
Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO was an Australian-born British actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.-Early life:...
as James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
; and the 1997 musical, Always. May wrote and composed the music, book and lyrics for Always, a musical focusing on the lives of Edward VII and Wallis Simpson. However, poor reviews caused Always, to close soon after its opening.
May suffered another professional setback after he sold his screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
for a film to be called Skippy to Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
at 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. However, the screenplay was rejected by studio executive Barry Diller
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
, who overruled Murdoch and cancelled the project.
Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience
However, May found professional and commercial success when he created the 2007 live stage production of Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience, based on the documentaryDocumentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
of the same name which aired on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
.
May was inspired to create the prehistoric live show after watching cranes
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
constructing the Southern Cross railway station
Southern Cross railway station, Melbourne
Southern Cross is a major railway station and transport hub in Melbourne Docklands, Victoria, Australia. It is located on Spencer Street between Collins and La Trobe Streets at the western edge of the central business district...
in Melbourne during the night. May felt the cranes resembled dinosaurs, which served as the inspiration for the arena show.
May needed two years to create the life-like dinosaurs, which needed to be both realistic and easily transportable for the tour. May hired approximately fifty people to create the dinosaurs using his designs.
He chose Sonny Tilders, one of the film and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
industries' leading professionals in the field of animatronic puppetry
Audio-Animatronics
Audio-Animatronics is the registered trademark for a form of robotics created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequently expanded on and used by other companies. The robots move and make noise, generally in speech or song...
, to head the development of the dinosaurs. May designed the fifteen life-size dinosaurs used in the production. Ten species of dinosaurs are included in the show, including the Liliensternus
Liliensternus
Liliensternus was a genus of coelophysoid dinosaur from the Late Triassic period, about 205 Ma.Liliensternus was originally named in 1934 by Friedrich von Huene as a second species of Halticosaurus, H. liliensterni, the specific name honouring the German amateur paleontologist, Dr...
, Plateosaurus
Plateosaurus
Plateosaurus is a genus of plateosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic period, around 216 to 199 million years ago, in what is now Central and Northern Europe. Plateosaurus is a basal sauropodomorph dinosaur, a so-called "prosauropod"...
, Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
, Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
, Utahraptor
Utahraptor
Utahraptor is a genus of theropod dinosaurs, including the largest known members of the family Dromaeosauridae. Fossil specimens date to the upper Barremian stage of the early Cretaceous period...
and Torosaurus
Torosaurus
Torosaurus is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur that lived during the late Cretaceous period , between 70 and 65 million years ago. It possessed one of the largest skulls of any known land animal. The frilled skull reached in length...
. The largest dinosaur in the production, the Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of North America. It was first described by Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Grand River Canyon of western Colorado, in the United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax,...
, which most resembles the cranes which inspired the show, measures 56 feet long and 36 feet tall.
The live adaptation, which debuted in 2007, was called Walking with Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular in Australia, but was later marketed under the name, Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience in North America and Europe.
Walking with Dinosaurs cost $20 million to create and was an instant commercial success. The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
described Walking with Dinosaurs as "one of the largest and most acclaimed shows to come out of Australia."
According to Polstar, Walking with Dinosaurs was the best-selling non-musical touring production in North America in 2009. The production grossed $46.2 million and sold more than more than one million tickets throughout the United States and Canada leg of the tour.
As of early 2010, May's Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience is still touring arenas and stadiums throughout North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Death
May died of pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
at St Vincent's Hospital
St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne
St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne is the major hospital in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia.It is operated by the St Vincent's Health service, previously known as the Sisters of Charity Health Service, Melbourne...
in Melbourne, Australia, on December 31, 2009, at the age of 56. He was survived by his partner of 37 years, Malcolm Cooke. May's funeral was held at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
St Patrick's Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Denis J. Hart. The building is known internationally as a leading example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture.In 1974 Pope Paul VI...
.