The £10 m production Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular is heading to Nottingham next summer. SIMON WILSON was invited to see it in New York and go behind the scenes to meet the cast and crew. In the first of three exclusive reports, he finds out more about this ambitious project

IT wasn't just the kids who were mouth agape when a 36ft tall Brachiosaurus leaned into the audience for a closer look.

From the opening moments of Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular, adults were giving each other's ribs some damage. The consensus was clearly: "How the heck do they do that!?"

A select few journalists from the UK had been invited to New York to watch the show that started out in Australia two years ago and has since been roaming the cities of the United States.

A press release and a few pictures would normally do. But there was a good reason the producers wanted us to witness it first hand.

"Everyone has a hard time trying to describe what the show is," says director Scott Faris. "Maybe you see the video and think 'oh yeah that looks cool' but it's not until you see the show that you understand how amazing it is."

In the simplest terms, it is the live equivalent of the BBC's hit documentary series of the same name – 200m years of history, featuring ten species of dinosaur, condensed into a 90-minute show.

Fifteen life-size dinosaurs move around an arena floor, they interact with each other and the crowd, playing and running, roaring and fighting.

Only one man dares to walk among them, the paleontologist Huxley, who narrates their story.

Each weighs up to 1.5 tons. The largest is 56ft nose to tail.

Apart from the Liliensternus, Baby T-Rex and Utahraptors which are all essentially a man in an elaborate suit, each is operated by a team of three people. But only one of the three is actually inside (or rather below) the dinosaur. It's complicated and all will be explained in the Post on Wednesday.

For now, just know that when it comes to the Trent FM Arena for a week next July, you will want to see it.

"When we first got to America there was an elderly lady, she was 79, and she said it was the best show she'd ever seen," says production director Jake Berry.

"When you're appealing to people from ages two to 79 you know you've nailed it."

Berry is the only Brit among the largely Australian crew of 66. From Devon, he is more used to dealing rock dinosaurs, as producer of tours by the likes of the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Motley Crue. He's also worked with Cher, U2, Metallic, Tina Turner and was in charge of the Bob The Builder tour which came to Nottingham's Arena. He knows the venue well.

"The arena is right in the middle of the city so we may be unloading dinosaurs on to the street," he laughs. "It'll certainly be a challenge."

There will 26 trucks rolling into Nottingham next summer, ten of which are solely for the dinosaurs.

"Of course my current clients are better behaved – they're quiet aren't they?," he laughs, nodding at the lifeless beasts towering over us backstage after the show.

Six years in the making, Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular came to life in Sydney in January, 2007.

"Obviously there were hundreds of species of dinosaur," says resident director Cameron Wenn.

"We based our collection on the BBC series, those dinosaurs that were kind of key to the periods that we discuss."

They were designed and built by Sonny Tilders from The Creature Production Company, using a combination of steel and aluminium, Latex and Spandex.

There's a mil-and-a-half of hand made 'skin' covering the frames, all hand-stencilled and hand-painted.

Others in the production team have worked on Star Wars, Peter Pan and Narnia movies.

Faris, who directed shows for Bette Midler and Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas, at first turned down the offer to work on the show.

"I was working my way back to Broadway," he said, "but they convinced me to go to Australia to see it and I was hooked.

"When I worked with Siegfried & Roy they had tigers in their show. When you see a tiger out of a cage standing 15ft away and it's staring at you like you're food with these cold, dead eyes, it's terrifying. I can only use that experience to imagine what it would have been like to have walked with dinosaurs."

He adds: "It's also a learning experience. There are lessons about the world and the toxicity of the atmosphere. These fantastic huge creatures lived for millions of years and they became extinct so we shouldn't get too cocky about what we do on this planet."