EUSTACE, OMALO CROWNED

THE Kings and Queen of Carnival competition, at the Dimanche Gras show, Queen’s Park Savannah on Sunday night, almost ended in disaster when a king costume caught on fire while moving across the stage.

Entourage Productions’ Diablo – Lord of Conflict and Terror was crossing the stage when sparks coming from the mouth of the sea serpent set the material of the costume ablaze as the crowd gasped in astonishment and there were anxious moments as the flames spread across the costume.

Fortunately, masquerader Ravi Lakhan quickly removed himself from the burning costume while worried members of the audience loudly urged him to get away from the flames. There was some confusion as stage hands and even some kings and queens ran to Lakhan and surrounded the burning costume until fire officers rushed onstage with fire extinguishers and put out the blaze.

No one was hurt during the incident. The show was put on pause as vinyl sheets covering the centre stage were removed and the crew swept, mopped and dried the stage in preparation for the other kings. The main concern was the safety of moko jumbie kings yet to perform.

It was not a total loss for Entourage Productions however as one of their two queens, Mother of Dragons – Keeper of Light, portrayed by Roxanne Omalo, was crowned Queen of Carnival. She shared the spotlight with now four-time Carnival King, Ted Eustace who portrayed Lords of the Savannah. They both won the first prize of $220,000 each.

Paparazzi Carnival’s Lords of the Savannah placed third in the preliminaries but pulled an ace out of its sleeve for the finals when the Pierrot Grenade and two Midnight Robbers on the costume bowed and their heads and arms moved of their own accord.

Speaking to Newsday after the show, Eustace said they tried new things to move the costume in ways other than what was traditional, and to bring back old mas with “new” technology.

He said his brother Curtis Eustace helped with the costume and between the brothers and their father, Tedder Eustace Sr, the family had the most amount of king titles. “Curtis is the best king of carnival right now. He has eight wins, the most amount of wins, and I’m just inching up.”

He said it cost about $120,000 to bring the costume to the stage and three months to build. He thanked the designers, builders, and sponsors for their hard work and support.

This win was Omalo’s second, and last, as she said she intends to retire from the Queen competition. She said she had been part of the mas fraternity for ten years and from next year, her goal is to “sit back and enjoy Carnival,” and possibly bring out a kiddies band in her community of Mayaro.

Omalo placed fifth in the preliminaries but said she was confident she would win despite her broken right arm which was covered by the sleeves of her costume.

She said all she did was what the designer instructed her to do and then she waited on the results. “In 2018 we placed first, last year we placed second and we came out this year to capture back our victory from 2018. With that said we executed tonight well and we got the crown.”

Asked about her fellow masquerader and the fire on stage, Omalo said, “Our costumes are built with sponge so any little fire or spark would catch. It’s hurtful to see all of eight months (of work) going down the drain but again, in this industry you have to expect anything because we’re playing with all kinds of different pyrotechnics and stuff.”

She said she was certain Lakhan would recuperate and come back stronger next year. Efforts by Newsday to get a comment from Lakhan yesterday proved futile.