Ice Age Live makes tracks to Newcastle

The award-winning production designer from Portland, Oregon has created elaborate stage works for the likes of pop stars Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus, as well as puppet co-design for the acclaimed musical The Lion King.

Now he has turned his talents to a live version of the hit Ice Age film series, Ice Age Live: A Mammoth Adventure!, which has its Australian premiere in Newcastle this month.

Incorporating circus, acrobats, dance and music – the majority of which is performed on the ice – the production debuted three years ago at Wembley Arena in London and has since toured the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

Curry said he had long dreamed of recreating the film’s character Sid for the stage.

“I fell in love with Sid as a character early on,” Curry said.

“When I saw the movie I said ‘I am going to create a Sid one day’. I knew I would and I always had an affinity with the character, so that’s where we started when we began putting the show together.”

Curry spent 18 months working on the puppet designs for the arena production which opens at Newcastle Entertainment Centre on March 25.

Two stars of the show are the impressive 70-kilogram mammoths, Manny and Ellie, who are among the characters brought to life in the visually spectacular production which is directed by Guy Caron – the brains behind the Cirque du Soleil productions Ka and Dralion.

The show features new characters and a new plot as it follows the adventures of family of mammoths, a saber­toothed tiger, two possums and a sloth who venture into a forbidden land. 

“Adults love this show but the kids are transported,” Curry said.

“They do forget that it’s fake and I love that. It’s one of my favourite things in theatre.”