Walk with Dinosaurs at spectacular show (From The Bolton News)

Walk with Dinosaurs at spectacular show

3:08pm Thursday 4th June 2009

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DINOSAURS will once again walk the earth in a spectacular theatrical arena show coming to Manchester in July and August.

Walking With Dinosaurs — The Arena Spectacular is based on the award-winning BBC TV series and promises to be one of the most exciting and groundbreaking shows ever seen in the UK.

Carmen Pavlovic, the CEO of the Australian Creature Production Company, who is behind the show said: “The BBC series was a brilliant blend of special effects, escapism and information. Our production brings together all of that, plus something extra — it’s live.”

He continued: “In this production, 15 roaring, snarling ‘live’ dinosaurs mesmerise the audience — and are as awe-inspiring as when they first walked on earth.”

The show is immense and with the dinosaurs being life-size, it could only be done in an arena setting.

It cost £10 million to stage and Pavlovic explained: “We really believe we have created a new genre in entertainment which captivates young and old alike.”

The original TV series won six Emmy and three BAFTA Awards and the creator/producer Tim Haines serves as project consultant to the show.

He said: “At its core, The Arena Spectacular manages to do what the TV series did so successfully, which is to make people imagine they are looking at real dinosaurs.”

The show has broken box office records everywhere. In America it has generated $110 million in ticket sales and has been seen by a worldwide audience of three million people.

Awards have come its way too with a THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Touring Event, a Billboard Touring Award for Creative Content and just this year it received the Pollstar Concert Industry Award for Most Creative Stage Production.

It is directed by none other than Scott Faris, a Broadway veteran who has in the past worked alongside Trevor Nunn.

Just to get an idea of the scale of the workings, each large dinosaur weighs about the same as a standard family car, uses 53 gallons of paint, 971 square feet of fabric and takes three people (a driver and two puppeteers) to operate.

Director Faris said: “Because of the detail that has gone into the show, our dinosaurs move exactly as if they were real. The realism is mind-blowing.”

Sonny Tilders, who was responsible for designing and building the creatures, has been a major creative force in the world of animatronics for film and television for a decade. He’s worked on movies like Star Wars: Episode III — The Revenge of the Sith, Peter Pan and The Chronicles of Narnia.

He explained: “Many of the technologies we are using in the show are borrowed from film. The computer software and hardware we have developed is based on the systems used to control animatronics creatures in feature films.”

The show itself, takes us through the evolution of these giant beasts from their first existence through to their extinction.

We are joined on this journey by the narrator Huxley, an enthusiastic palaeontologist who is on hand with information about what we are seeing.

And just what do we see?

There will be an Allosaurus, Stegosaurus and not forgetting the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex among the 15 creatures we will see throughout their 200 million year reign as masters of the planet.

The largest of the dinosaurs is the giant Brachiosaurus, which is 36 feet tall and 56 feet long (for those used to dealing in Metric — Damn Big!) The history of the world is played out with the splitting of the continents, the transition from the desert world of the Triassic period to the lush Jurassic period — all leading up to the impact of the massive comet, 65 million years ago which wiped out the dinosaurs.

The first half of the show has the creatures parading and cavorting in the arena as Huxley describes them, but in the second half the action gathers pace and culminates in a spectacular clash as a female T-Rex defends her baby from predators.

Newsweek has described the show as “that rare entertainment beast that parents and kids can enjoy together”.

And The New York Times stated that after 65 million years, the dinosaurs “make a thundering comeback”.

The show is truly a spectacle and is one definitely not to be missed.

l Walking With Dinosaurs — The Arena Spectacular will be at the Manchester Evening News Arena for nine shows starting on Wednesday, July 29 to Sunday, August 2.

Times for the show vary, there are morning shows (11am) on Saturday and Sunday, 3pm performances on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; and evening shows at 7pm Wednesday to Saturday (no evening show on Sunday).

Tickets cost £45 (limited premium seats), £35, £30 and £20 (plus booking fee) and are available on 0844 875 9000, at www.dinosaurlive.com or in person from the Box Office.