Dinosaurs on the catwalk at MSG

By Matt Windman | amNY theater reviewer

10:47 AM EDT, July 31, 2008

'Walking with Dinosaura' at Madison Square Garden (Joan Marcus)

Fifteen years ago, there were real rumors that "Jurassic Park: The Musical" would eventually become a reality. We're not kidding! Fortunately for Broadway -- and the dinos -- that never happened. But if any fans of "Cats" and "The Lion King" suddenly have a desire to see reptiles onstage, that day has apparently arisen.

"Walking with Dinosaurs," a $20 million spectacle based on the BBC television miniseries of the same name, is a mix of a museum exhibit, a second-grade science class, and a 90-minute piece of theater performed in two acts. Narrated by a safari-costumed actor known as The Paleontologist, we ride on a 200-million year timeline through ten species of dinosaur evolution.

Due to the size of the dinos, the largest of which is 36 feet tall and 56 feet wide, the production is being housed in the arena of Madison Square Garden. Puppeteers, animatronics, and hydraulics are used to bring these characters to life. You might consider it to be the biggest puppet show in town.

Aided by an orchestral score, the dinosaurs spend most of their time taking slow walks down the arena runway as if they were supermodels. Occasionally they break into a two-on-one, Godzilla-style battle scene or deliver some groans and grunts. The closest we come to actual storytelling occurs when the T-Rex mother defends her child from the predators. Special effects are also employed to simulate comets hitting the earth, earthquakes and volcanoes.

While the kids will probably be wowed by the sheer size of the puppets, both adults and kids will be bored by the narrator's pointless lectures, especially when he dives into the history of plants.

More or less, this is a fashion show for dinosaurs. The audience emits a few collective sighs of "whoa," but not too many.

Madison Square Garden, 7th Ave and 32nd St, 212-307-4100, $35-99. Fri 11am & 7pm, Sat-Sun 11am, 3 & 7pm. Thru Sun