Walking With Dinosaurs spectacular at Echo Arena

Nov 15 2008 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

DINOSAURS will once again roam the earth in a spectacular new theatrical arena show, which commences its UK tour in July 2009.

Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular, based on the award-winning BBC TV series, will see real size dinosaurs come to life in what promises to be one of the most exciting and groundbreaking shows ever seen in the UK and it’s coming to the Echo Arena Liverpool from August 19-23.

The show originated in Australia, where after years of planning, Walking With Dinosaurs came to life at Sydney’s Acer Arena in January 2007. The show proved itself such a sensation, that the American tour was fast-tracked.

Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular is brought to the UK by The Creature Production Company, an Australian company headed by CEO Carmen Pavlovic, in association with BBC Worldwide. Pavlovic said: “The BBC series was a brilliant blend of special effects, escapism, excitement and information.ŠOur show brings together all of that, plus something extra - it’s live!

“In this production, 15 roaring, snarling “live” dinosaurs mesmerise the audience – and are as awe-inspiring as when they first walked on earth.

“The dinosaurs are life-size, making the show so immense, it could only fit in arenas. It’s a £10 million arena spectacle of unprecedented size and quality, which captivates young and old alike.

“With Walking with Dinosaurs, we really believe we have created a new genre in entertainment and we hope to continue to bring the new product to arenas for years to come ”

Tim Haines, creator and producer of the original BBC series, which was seen by a worldwide audience of 700 million, serves as project consultant to Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular.ŠThe series won six Emmy and three BAFTA Awards.

“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.”

Since commencing its American tour in July 2007, Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular has sold out performances and broken records– generating $90 million in ticket sales to date and has been seen by almost two million people.

Ten species are represented from the entire 200 million year reign of the dinosaurs.Š

The show includes the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the terror of the ancient terrain, as well as the Plateosaurus and Liliensternus from the Triassic period, the Stegosaurus and Allosaurus from the Jurassic period and Torosaurus and Utahraptor from the awesome Cretaceous period.Š

The largest of them, the Brachiosaurus is 36 feet tall, and 56 feet from nose to tail.Š It took a team of 50 including engineers, fabricators, skin makers, artists and painters, and animatronics experts a year to build the original production in a Melbourne Docklands workshop big enough to park a 747.

The show depicts the dinosaurs’ evolution, complete with the climatic and tectonic changes that took place, which led to the demise of many species.Š

With almost cinematic realism, Walking With Dinosaurs has scenes of the interactions between dinosaurs, and the audience sees how carnivorous dinosaurs evolved to walk on two legs, and how the herbivores fended off their more agile predators.

Tickets will be on general sale from Monday, November 17. To book tickets log on to www.accliverpool or call the Echo Arena box office on 0844 8000 400. Visit Šwww.dinosaurlive.co.uk for more information. Ticket prices £35, £30, £20

All tickets are subject to a booking/handling fee.