by Toh Ee Ming
SINGAPORE, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Like any other teenager, Baby T loves to go off to explore on his own but often gets himself into trouble and has to be rescued by his overprotective mother.
But Baby T is no ordinary juvenile -- he is a cheeky and inquisitive baby Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur who was born at the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago.
He is one of the 18 life-size dinosaur stars who will take over the Singapore Indoor Stadium, as part of the globally-acclaimed production Walking With Dinosaurs -- The Live Experience, which will kick off in Singapore on Aug. 29.
Speaking at a media preview on Monday, the show's director Ian Waller displayed a great sense of affection and fondness towards the dinosaurs.
He said "There's something in the show for everybody. The kids will just love the fact that they are seeing real-life dinosaurs. The adults will wonder (and be awestruck) by the technology and the overall spectacular (effects) of the show, but they will also learn something new."
"Even the most cynical of dads will just come in and be sitting and using their phone, but when they see the first dinosaur, they'll be like, 'Oh, I'm invested," said Waller with a laugh.
Based on the award-winning BBC television series, Walking With Dinosaurs -- The Live Experience is a theatrical story hosted and narrated by Huxley, the show's paleontologist, who will bring the audience along an immersive journey into the lives of these majestic creatures. It took a team of 50 including engineers, fabricators, skin makers, artists, painters and animatronic experts a year to build the production.
Nine species are represented from the entire 200-million-year reign of the dinosaurs -- ranging from the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Plateosaurus and Liliensternus from the Triassic period, the Stegosaurus and Allosaurus from the Jurassic period and Torosaurus and Utahraptor from the Cretaceous period.
The largest of them, the Brachiosaurus, is 11 meters tall and 17 meters long from nose to tail.
Each dinosaur is brought to life with the help of performers who operate the creatures, with a series of animatronics and physical puppetry.
During the one hour and 40 minute show, the audience will be swept up along this cinematic and emotional retelling of the history of the world 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. This will all take place in an arena-sized set featuring state-of-the-art technology, projection, music, lighting effects and "living and fighting dinosaurs."
The production also features scenes of the interactions between dinosaurs, how carnivorous dinosaurs evolved to walk on two legs, and how the herbivores fended off their more agile predators.
Dramatic scenes play out, from oceans forming, volcanoes erupting, a forest catching fire, all leading to the impact of the massive comet, which struck the earth, and led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Walking With Dinosaurs opened its world tour in Britain in July 2018 and has embarked on an international tour, taking over arenas across Europe, and now heading into Asia with a stopover in Singapore. Since then it has been watched by more than 9 million people in more than 250 cities around the world.
Walking With Dinosaurs -- The Live Experience is produced by Global Creatures and promoted in Singapore by UnUsUal Entertainment and Sliding Doors Entertainment.
