Walking with Dinosaurs comes to Anaheim-Los Angeles, September 2014- Preview, Tickets
Walking With Dinosaurs The Arena Spectacular returns to North America
Based on the award-winning BBC Television Series
Performs at Honda Center for limited eight performance engagement September 3 – 7
Tickets go on sale Friday, April 11 at 12pm at ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000
Performs at STAPLES Center for limited seven performance engagement September 11 – 14
Tickets go on sale Friday, April 11 at 12pm at axs.com or by calling 888-929-7849
March 20, 2014 — Dinosaurs once again roam the earth when the spectacular production,
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR, based on the award-winning BBC Television
Series, returns to North America.
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR will be performed at Honda Center
from a limited eight-performance engagement from Wednesday, September 3 to Sunday, September
7 and STAPLES Center for a limited eight-performance engagement from Thursday, September 11 to
Tickets go on sale Friday, April 11 at 12:00 p.m. For Honda Center, please visit
ticketmaster.com, or call 800-745-3000. Tickets will be available to purchase at the Honda Center box
office beginning Saturday, April 12 at 10:00 a.m. For STAPLES Center please visit axs.com or call 888-
The critics have called this show ‘awesome’, ‘spectacular’ and ‘breathtaking. This updated
production will showcase changes to the dinosaurs based on the latest scientific research including the
likely feathering of some species. Worldwide, more than eight million people have seen this show in 243
cities and over 2,000 performances.
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR is produced by Global Creatures
headed by CEO Carmen Pavlovic. Pavlovic said, “I am thrilled that WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE
ARENA SPECTACULAR is coming back to the US in July – its first visit to North America since its inaugural
2007 sell-out tour. A new generation is ready to experience these life–size beasts in this awe-inspiring
spectacle, which has still not been matched in terms of scale and quality. Many of our creatures have
“evolved” since the last tour, now featuring distinctive display feathers, head crests and tail fans,
reflecting recent discoveries about the physical nature of these massive creatures. This show remains a
must-see for audiences of all ages.”
The show depicts the dinosaurs’ evolution with almost cinematic realism. WALKING WITH
DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR has scenes of the interactions between dinosaurs, how
carnivorous dinosaurs evolved to walk on two legs, and how the herbivores fended off their more agile
Ten species are represented from the entire 200 million year reign of the dinosaurs. 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. The largest of them, the
Brachiosaurus is 36 feet tall, and 56 feet from nose to tail. It took a team of 50 – including engineers,
fabricators, skin makers, artists and painters, and animatronic experts – a year to build the production.
The history of the world is played out with the splitting of the earth’s continents, and the
transition from the arid desert of the Triassic period is given over to the lush green prairies and forces of
the later Jurassic. Oceans form, volcanoes erupt, a forest catches fire — all leading to the impact of the
massive comet, which struck the earth, and forced the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The show originated in Australia, where after years of planning, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS
THE ARENA SPECTACULAR came to life at Sydney’s Acer Arena in January 2007. The 20 dinosaurs were
originally “hatched” by Sonny Tilders, the head of creature design at Creature Technology Company in a
Melbourne Docklands workshop big enough to park a 747.
The show proved itself such a sensation, that the North American tour was fast-tracked,
where it quickly became one of the leading arena attractions. The only building large enough to
house rehearsals for the dinosaurs– some as large as 36 ft tall by 56 ft long – was the Greater Tacoma
Convention and Trade Center! Soon after, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR
went onto conquer Europe and Asia.
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR has been seen on The Today Show,
Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kelly, and has been written about in Newsweek, The New
York Times, the Christian Science Monitor and The Wall Street Journal. It was the subject of a Discovery
Channel Really Big Things episode and a video clue category on Jeopardy.
During its North American tour (2007-2010), the production won the THEA Award for
Outstanding Achievement in Touring Event and the Billboard Touring Award for Creative Content as
well as the Pollstar Concert Industry Award for Most Creative Stage Production and the ILMC Arthur
Award for Best in Show. The THEAs recognize excellence in the creation of compelling educational,
historical, and entertainment projects; and both the Billboard Touring Award and the Pollstar Concert
Industry Award recognize a show or tour that creatively expands what is offered on the road. The ILMC
(International Live Music Conference) Arthur Award for Best in Show recognizes theatre shows and
Artistic Director William May developed the creative vision of the show based on an original
idea by entrepreneur Bruce Mactaggart to create an arena version of the Walking with Dinosaurs
A talented and experienced team of creative artists came together to produce WALKING
WITH DINOSAURS THE ARENA SPECTACULAR. The show is directed by Scott Faris, a Broadway veteran
who directed Michael Crawford in EFX at MGM Grand Hotel, which at the time was the biggest stage
production ever conceived and was on the production team that created Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage
Hotel. Faris directed Chicago the Musical in 16 countries and William Shatner’s Broadway show
Shatner’s World, as well was resident director on the Broadway productions of Les Misérables, Cabaret,
Cats, and Grease and a directing consultant for Cirque du Soleil. He directed Bette Midler in The
Showgirl Must Go On at Caesars Palace Las Vegas and George Lucas Super Live Adventure in Japan.
Faris said, “We take the audience on a journey back in time and show them how the dinosaurs
might have actually looked in their prime – huge, sometimes frightening, sometimes comical monsters –
that fought for survival every day of their lives. Our dinosaurs move exactly like they are real — with all
the roars, snorts and excitement that go with it. The realism is mind-blowing!”
The creatures are designed and built by Sonny Tilders; the set and projected image design are
by Peter England; the show’s lighting is by John Rayment, the score was composed by James Brett; and
Warner Brown wrote the script.
Tilders, who designed and built the creatures has been, for the past decade, one of the major
creative forces of the high-tech world of animatronic puppetry for film and television. He designed the
Global Creatures/Dreamworks production How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular, and created
the lead character in the Australian stage production of King Kong, which had its world premiere
season in Melbourne, Australia in 2013. He was one of the lead animatronic engineers for Jim Henson’s
Creature workshop on the Farscape series, followed by work on Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the
Sith, Peter Pan, Ghost Rider and The Chronicles of Narnia.
Tilders said, “Many of the technologies we are using on WALKING WITH DINOSAURS THE
ARENA SPECTACULAR are borrowed from film. The computer software and hardware we have
developed is based on the systems used to control animatronic creatures in feature films.”
“To make it appear that these creatures are flesh and blood weighing six, eight or even 20
tons, we use a system called ‘muscle bags,’ made from stretch mesh fabric and filled with polystyrene
balls, stretched across moving points on the body. These contract and stretch in the same manner that
muscle, fat, and skin does on real creatures.”
“The puppeteers use ‘voodoo rigs’ to make many of the dinosaurs move. They are miniature
versions of the dinosaurs with the same joints and range of movement as their life-sized counterparts.
The puppeteer manipulates the voodoo rig and these actions are interpreted by computer and
transmitted by radio waves to make the hydraulic cylinders in the actual dinosaur replicate the action,
with a driver hidden below the animal, helping to maneuver it around the arena.” Suited puppeteer
specialists, who are inside the creatures, operate five of the smaller dinosaurs.
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. The series won six Emmy and three BAFTA Awards.
Variety said, “The dinosaurs are stunning, life-size and faultlessly nimble. In act one, the beasts
parade into the arena gnashing and cavorting as a safari-suited paleontologist describes their attributes
… in the second half, the action cranks up, culminating in a spectacular clash as a T-rex mom defends her
baby from predators. Sonny Tilders’ triumphant creature design ensures ‘Walking With Dinosaurs’ is a
truly spectacular spectacular. It is everything a dino-phile could want.”
The New York Times said that in this show dinosaurs make “a thundering comeback after 65
million years.” The Christian Science Monitor said, “When the dinosaurs start pouring out onto the
stage, if you don’t have to stifle the natural flight response of any living breathing being, then it’s your
pulse that needs checking.” Newsweek called the show, “that rare entertainment beast that parents
and kids can enjoy together.”
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS – THE ARENA SPECTACULAR was originally produced in Australia
by Gerry Ryan, Malcolm Cooke and Jill Bryant and is brought to the world by Global Creatures.
For more information, please visit www.dinosaurlive.com.
Walking with Dinosaurs word mark & logo TM & © BBC 1998
Calendar listing for WALKING WITH DINOSAURS — THE ARENA SPECTACULAR
Wednesday, September 3 – Sunday, September 7
Honda Center, 2695 East Katella Ave. Anaheim, CA 92806
Performance Schedule: Wednesday, September 3 at 7:00 PM; Thursday, September 4 at 7:00 PM; Friday,
September 5 at 7:00 PM; Saturday, September 6 at 11:00 AM; Saturday, September 6 at 3:00 PM; Saturday,
September 6 at 7:00 PM; Sunday, September 7 at 1:00 PM; Sunday, September 7 at 5:00 PM
Prices: $22.50, $39.50, $59.50, $79.50
Tickets: Website: ticketmaster.com Telephone: 800-745-3000
In Person: Honda Center Box Office – 2695 East Katella Ave. Anaheim, CA 92806
Group Sales: (714) 940-2859 or [email protected]
For Information: Website: www.hondacenter.com Telephone: 714-704-2400
Thursday, September 11 – Sunday, September 14
STAPLES Center, 1111 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Performance Schedule: Thursday, September 11 at 7:00 PM; Friday, September 12 at 7:00 PM; Saturday,
September 13 at 11:00 AM; Saturday, September 13 at 3:00 PM; Saturday, September 13 at 7:00 PM; Sunday,
September 14 at 11:00 AM; Sunday, September 14 at 3:00 PM
Tickets: Website: axs.com Telephone: 888-929-7849
In Person: STAPLES Center Box Office – 1111 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Group Sales: 1-877-AEG-TICKETS (1-877-522-8669) or visit staplescenter.com
For Information: Website: www.staplescenter.com Telephone: (213) 742-7100