Minneapolis/St. Paul - "Dinosaur World Live"

Regional Reviews: Minneapolis/St. Paul

Dinosaur World Live
Children's Theatre Company
Review by Deanne McDonald Haywood | Season Schedule

Also see Arty's reviews of Waking Miss Daisy, Strange Heart: The Songs of John Berryman and The Welkin

Lizzie Burder
Photo by Glen Stubbe Photography

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is currently presenting the Olivier Award-winning Dinosaur World Live, written and directed by Derek Bond. CTC is hosting this touring production from the UK, produced by Nicoll Entertainment, similar to when The Enormous Crocodile visited CTC's Cargill stage last fall. With puppet design by Max Humphries, co-direction by Laura Cubitt, the production features amazing puppetry that brings the colorful dinosaurs to life. The awe-inspiring adult Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet is operated by four puppeteers.

The cast includes an energetic and engaging Lizzie Burder as Miranda, with puppeteering by William Chaplin Stephens, Nat Speight, Georgia Wall, Alice Bravery, and Sebastian Chambers. As Miranda, Burder is our paleontologist guide for this adventure to Dinosaur World, a remote island where dinosaurs are magically still alive. Burder gamely invites a few small audience members on stage to interact with some of the less scary dinosaur puppets, and dispenses with many facts about dinosaurs throughout the course of the performance.

CTC recommends this production for ages 3 and up, and the company invites audience members to interact with the baby T-Rex puppet at the end of the performance. After the hour-long performance, my 5-year-old dinosaur fan was not ready to wait around to meet the puppets, but did enjoy taking pictures with various dinosaur cut outs in the lobby. I highly recommend this production for dinosaur or puppeteering fans of any age. There is no story to speak of, so think of it as a fantastical interactive naturalist presentation with impressive production values.

Dinosaur World Live runs through April 5, 2026, on the UnitedHealth Group Stage at Children's Theatre Company, 2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please call 612-874-0400 or visit childrenstheatre.org.