"Walking with Dinosaurs" was based on the 1999 BBC series of the same name. The original six-part series displayed dinosaurs with more life-like accuracy than had ever been seen on screen before and won three Emmy Awards. The American live-action version featured 17 full-size dinosaurs and began its two year tour in Tacoma, Wash.
History
Before its U.S. debut in Tacoma, the production had played only in Australia. Several large cities vied to be the location of the first North American performance. Bruce Mactaggart, executive director of Emersion Entertainment Group of Melrose, Australia, told the Associated Press that he chose the Tacoma Dome as the site for the beginning of the North American tour because of the size of Tacoma's seaport and the great interest expressed by the owners of the dome.
Significance
It took six years and $20 million to put together this production. The show is so large that most arenas have to remove one-third of their seating to allow for extra playing area. The Tacoma Dome was able to include only 8,000 seats instead of the 30,000 maximum for concerts. As of May 2009, "Walking with Dinosaurs" was the top grossing event ever held in the Tacoma Dome, grossing more than $2.34 million.
Features
Ten dinosaur species are displayed during "Walking with Dinosaurs:" Plateosaurus, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Ornithocherius, Ankylosaurus, Torosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Utahraptor and Liliensternus. Each of the large dinosaurs requires three people to operate the mechanisms that create life-like movement. One person drives the dinosaur while two puppeteers operate the head and tail motion and the mouth and eye movements.
Time Frame
"Walking with Dinosaurs" played for five days in Tacoma before moving on to Spokane. Overall, the North American tour lasted two years, beginning in Tacoma on July 11, 2007, moving through 97 venues in the United States and Canada, and ending in October 2009.
Considerations
For a 90-minute children's performance, tickets were on the high side, priced from $24.50 to $79.50. Comparatively, the top-priced ticket for a "Diego" performance around the same time period was $38.
While the performance length was a kid-friendly 90 minutes, MSNBC reported that the action-less interludes presenting background and facts cause children in the audience to grow restless. For this reason, the program is more suited toward older children.
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