Jemaine Clement Stars In WOW®’s 2016 Show

MEDIA RELEASE

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2016

Jemaine Clement Stars In WOW®’s 2016 Show

Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords is lending his distinctive voice to one of the central characters in the World of WearableArt™ (WOW®) Awards Show, which opens in Wellington next week. Clement will bring to life an as yet-to-be revealed creature built by Weta Workshop, although WOW® gives a pretty big hint in behind-the-scenes footage released today.

WOW® is an international phenomenon that attracts entries every year from designers from over 40 countries, and showcases the finalists in what has become New Zealand’s largest single theatrical show. The show employs more than 350 cast and crew and will play to an audience of 58,000 over its three-week Wellington season. The 2016 show starts next week and runs fromThursday 22 September to Sunday 9 October.

WOW® creates a new theatrical world each year as Chief Executive Gisella Carr explains.

“Audiences come to see WOW over and over because each year is excitingly different from the one before,” Carr says. “This year, the innovation and beauty of the work of 163 designers is matched by a glittering theatrical setting inspired by artist Reuben Paterson, which is unlike anything WOW has put on stage before. This will be a magical experience to delight WOW’s tens of thousands of fans.”

Jemaine Clement and Weta Workshop join a creative team headed up by artistic directors Mike Mizrahi and Marie Adams. This year, WOW® Awards Show performance collaborators also include composer Don McGlashan, a contingent of accomplished New Zealand musicians including Annie Crummer, Anika Moa, Sean James Donnelly (SJD), the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and choreographers Ross McCormack and Victoria Colombus.

Mizrahi says he approached Clement about the role because of his voice’s versatility. As well as experimenting with his speaking and singing voice on stage, and playing a European vampire in the movie ‘What We Do in the Shadows’, Clement has voiced a number of animated characters including a minion, an alien, a cockatoo, and a crab, for various international and local productions.

“Jemaine is a great comedic talent with an incredibly sexy voice - perfect for our creature,” says Mizrahi. “This beast acts as a dangerous but impish link through the show and Jemaine brings him to life beautifully. We could not have asked for a better match.”

The creature itself has been created by Weta Workshop. Weta have been integrally involved in WOW® for many years sponsoring the Costume and Film section and also offering a winning WOW® designer an internship each year. Weta Workshop CEO and Co-founder Sir Richard Taylor says:

“Weta Workshop has been a proud supporter of WOW for many years. Several of our talented crew, past and present, are previous WOW winners and entrants. To be involved in this year’s show is an incredible honour and an equally incredible challenge. We’ve given it our all to create something that is a little bit special for this year’s WOW show as, for the very first time, our support will extend into the show itself.”

The behind-the-scenes footage of the WOW®/Weta Workshop/Jemaine Clement collaboration is one of a number of pieces that WOW® have released about the making of this year’s show. Gisella Carr says WOW® will be doing more of this next year, as the show’s fans love glimpses of what is coming up.

ENDS

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