Erth's Dinosaur Zoo

We went to see Erth's Dinosaur Zoo Live at Toronto's Panasonic Theatre.  Aside from feeling like massive dorks for being in the minority for being adults there without children we had a great time.  The show takes you on a journey through prehistoric Australia introducing you to various creatures brought to life as puppets by very talented puppeteers and performers.

The show was created by Erth Visual & Physical of Sydney Australia and is extremely interactive.  For every different creature someone is brought up on stage to get involved with the show.  Some of them even went out into the audience.  We had seats in the second row and the view was fantastic if not downright frightening at times.

   
The beginning of awesomeness for me was when the rain made the trees and hay bales grow. (because I am easier to amuse than your average four-year-old)  It was a very neat effect.  Then they moved on to baby dinosaurs.

Above is a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex, does that not just make you melt into a puddle of mush?

Here we have a baby Triceratops and a baby Hadrosaur, could you get an more adorable?  Well you could but I didn't get a picture of it.  They had kid from the audience come up and pet the babies.  First the babies had to check them out to make sure they were okay though.  Which mostly involved sniffing the back of their hands and being super cute.

We then got to meet Meganeura, a large dragonfly lookalike.  Let me tell you, I am a huge fan of things that eat other insects but this thing was downright terrifying.  My picture does not do it justice.  After Meganeura we got to meet Leaellynasaura.

These feisty little dinosaurs were some of the best amusement of the evening, they had a ball going at each other, our host and heading down into the audience.  After the Leaellynasuara, who were named for their discoverer's daughter, we got to see the bigger dinosaurs.  Starting with my own personal favourite:

When the Triceratops was coming out one of the puppeteers came out and said that they had lost the T-Rex, it added a nice edge of suspense to the show.

There she is peeking out from the side, and of course the announcer brings up the animosity between the two dinosaurs as now they are both on the stage.

Naturally there was a little scuffle between the two.  Once they got them pulled apart we got our first good look at the juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The detail on the puppets was just incredible, and the work done by the puppeteers really brought them to life.  If the show comes your way I highly recommend taking your kids to see it if they like dinosaurs.  I may even take mine if they come back.