Dora the Explorer Live! Dora’s Pirate Adventure!
St James Theatre 2, Wellington
18/07/2008 - 20/07/2008
Production Details
Dora the Explorer Live! Dora’s Pirate Adventure!
Join in with Dora the Explorer, her cousin Diego, best buddy Boots the Monkey and the rest of their friends as they embark on an exciting musical voyage to Treasure Island.
Along the way, you will be able to use your map-reading, counting, music and Spanish-language skills to successfully help Dora find the treasure and end her adventure with a happy "yo-ho-ho!"
Dora the Explorer Live! Dora’s Pirate Adventure! is an interactive live stage show for pre-school and early primary aged children, featuring the famous characters from Nickelodeon TV’s show Dora the Explorer.
Following massively successful US, European and Asian tours, Dora the Explorer is setting sail for the St James Theatre in Wellington with her brand new live musical show, Dora the Explorer Live! Dora’s Pirate Adventure!
Don’t miss your chance to give the little ones in your life to chance to sing and dance with Dora the Explorer when she comes to New Zealand for the first time.
FULL TOUR SCHEDULE
Dora the Explorer Live! Dora’s Pirate Adventure is scheduled to tour as follows.
Auckland Trusts Stadium Arena, Waitakere
Sat 5 July, 10am & 12.30pm
Sun 6 July, 10am NEW
Book at TicketDirect 0800-484-2538
Hamilton Founders Theatre
Mon 7 July 3pm; Tue 8 July 10 am & 12.30pm NEW
Book at TicketDirect 0800-484-2538
Christchurch Westpac Events Centre (Reduced Mode)
Sat 12 July, 10am, 12.30pm & NOW 3pm NEW
Book at Ticketek 0800-842-53835
Napier Municipal Theatre
Mon 14 July, 10am, 12.30pm & NOW 3pm NEW
Book at TicketDirect 0800-484-2538
New Plymouth TSB Showplace
Wed 16 July, 10am, 12.30pm & NOW 3pm NEW
Book at Ticketek 0800-842-53835
Wellington St James Theatre
Fri 18 July 10am & 12.30pm; Sat 19 July, 10am & 12.30pm; Sun 20 July 10am NEW
Book at Ticketek 0800-842-53835
About Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year globally and second year locally in New Zealand, is the number one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. Nick NZ airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is seen in over 700,000 households on SKY Channel 41. On-air, Nick NZ features a wide array of original and acquired programming from animation to comedy, adventure and live action programs for kids aged 3 to 14 years. Nick NZ also owns and operates one of the few dedicated interactive kids websites in New Zealand – www.nicknz.co.nz.
About ThemeSTAR
ThemeSTAR produces and tours theatrical and arena productions, entertainment attractions, shows and exhibitions for the global marketplace. Our customers are promoters, presenters, theme parks, fairs, festivals, museums and major shopping malls interested in driving traffic and increasing revenues through the use of cost- effective entertainment and educational properties. We also assist intellectual property owners who are seeking to broaden and extend product lines into international markets. ThemeSTAR utilizes its global sales network and proven expertise in turnkey management, operation and marketing of live attractions to deliver quality programs for each of our clients.
Since 1980, ThemeSTAR’s founding partners have created and produced a variety of unique entertainment programs, attractions and exhibitions through an established network of promoters and representatives in over 40 countries worldwide. The ThemeSTAR team is recognized for its entrepreneurial innovation and its operational effectiveness working with major brands including Warner Bros., Universal Studios, Disney, Viacom, Cirque Du Soleil, Sesame Street, Ringling Bros., FIFA, Olympic Games, the NFL and more.
For more information please go to www.nicknz.co.nz
Tune in to Dora on Nickelodeon weekdays at 11am and 1.30pm and weekends at 7.30am.
1hr 30 mins, incl. interval
A loud and lively spectacle
Review by John Smythe 18th Jul 2008
Pre-schoolers with access to the Nickelodeon channel on Sky are likely to be hooked in already to Dora the Explorer and those who see the Live! show – Dora’s Pirate Adventure! – may well pressure their parents to subscribe to Sky. (This is the first warning to parents and grandparents.)
A commendable component of the animated TV show is that it motivates children to shout, sing and dance rather than passively consume the stories. They learn how to say "No!" to things they don’t like or want, and how to be part of making things happen. They learn to be assertive.
Ironically the Live! stage show is less successful in this regard. While there is plenty of shouting out on demand (at request), a large venue like the St James is not conducive to getting everyone – "Moms and Dads too, come on!" – on their feet and dancing. We tried it early on and the adults quickly realised it blocked the kids’ view of the stage completely. For the finale, then, when the vision was for the whole crowd to be on its feet like teens at a rock concert (or youths at a Pope rally), we stayed sitting down, dancing on the inside – except for the tiny-boppers in the mini mosh pit in the front row cross-aisle.
For all its apparent interactivity, Dora is an inexorable machine that constantly invites participation but grinds on regardless, never making anything like the same connections as the smaller (and infinitely cheaper) shows reviewed these hols.
The production values and energetic performances, however, are excellent. There is no printed programme and my requests for information have gone unanswered (what’s on the production page comes from my own Googling) so I cannot name the performers and creative personnel (designers, director, musical director or choreographer) but all are highly talented and fully committed.
This story finds Latino adventurer Dora, her best friends Boots the Monkey, Tico the Squirrel and Isa the Iguana ready for a Pirate Party: "Everyone’s excited / Cos everyone’s invited" they belt out in one of the many songs. Except the Pirate Piggies think the treasure chest is full of gold and jewels so they steal it and take it to Treasure Island.
The quest, then is get to the island via the Dancing Mountain and Rain Forest, then by Sailing Ship past the Singing Bridge – with the help, of course (to regular fans) of Map, Backpack and Diego the Animal Rescuer – to recover the chest and unpack the party.
Amid the obstacles to overcome and problems to solve is sly and sneaky Swiper the Fox, who attempts various disguises in order to swipe (as in take) things. "How do we stop Swiper from Swiping? Say, ‘Swiper, no swiping!’ (repeat…)" Presumably the payback for encouraging children to assert themselves this way is that they will also be responsive to assertive parents.
At 90 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) it’s a big show for pre-schoolers. And what parents and care-givers need to know – having shelled out $31.40, $37.50 or $41.40 per seat (no differentiation for age) plus booking fees – is that merchandising opportunities are there in abundance: $15 for a Dora light stick; $10 for a Dora helium balloon …
Anyone for, "What do we say when the kids demand merchandise? We say ‘No, kids! No! You can’t have the merchandise!’"
It’s a commercial enterprise, no doubt about it. But if you are into it and up for the expense (one smiling Granny said she’d hibernate for a month to recuperate finacially), it’s a loud and lively spectacle.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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