'How To Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular' roars into Nassau Coliseum

It’s a spectacle that crosses the boundary of film and theater. That’s what the enthusiastic team behind DreamWorks’ “How To Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular” is saying about this extravagant production, which arrives at Nassau Coliseum next week.
This stage (actually, arena) version of DreamWorks' 2010 animated hit features animatronic dragons that seem real and actually fly, assisted by some theatrical wizardry and actors. This spectacle roars into Long Island as part of its worldwide tour, Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 2-4.
“It’s a show on a massive scale,” said Gavin Sainsbury, the head puppeteer, who had a leading role in creating these massive creatures. “It’s an enormous production that needed an arena to tell this incredible story. The size and spectacle of the dragons and the story are way too big for a traditional theater environment.”
This production involves 23 dragons, some with wingspans of up to 46 feet, Viking warriors, world-class acrobatics, and pyrotechnics, which takes audiences on a journey filled with fire-breathing action, epic adventure and laughter. Based on the movie, which in turn is based on the book by Cressida Cowell, this captivating story is set in the mythical world of Vikings and wild dragons. The tale centers on Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn’t fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccup’s world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon – Toothless – that challenges him and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.
“The dragons add a real-life element,” said Sainsbury. “Yes, they are mythical creatures, but in our show they have personalities that are evident in the way they move and use their eyes. Some fly, some walk around, they are puppets on a grand scale never seen before. There’s else nothing quite like this and it opens a whole new genre of family entertainment, a theatrical experience that involves all ages.”