The Global Creatures story begins in 2007 with Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular, a live adaptation of the eponymous award-winning BBC documentary series. Walking With Dinosaurs quickly became an international sensation and toured around the globe for twelve years, wowing its audiences with 20 life-sized, realistic, awe-inspiring dinosaurs.

Walking With Dinosaurs was originally conceived as a one-off project, using a team of engineers, assembled by world renowned animatronic creature designer Sonny Tilders, to construct the dinosaurs. Following the show’s success and to fulfil its international potential, esteemed businessman, Gerry Ryan OAM, Carmen, and Sonny went into business together. At this stage the company had two divisions – one run by Carmen in Sydney to create and produce productions (which became Global Creatures, cofounded with Gerry Ryan) and the second run by Sonny in Melbourne that would design and build the creatures (which became the Creature Technology Company).

It took a talented team of 50 – including engineers, fabricators, skin makers, artists, painters, and animatronic experts – to build this breathtaking production showcasing ten different species and their natural environments from the 200 million-year reign of the dinosaurs.

Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular was a huge success, seen by nearly 10 million people in 250 cities over its 12 years of touring. For two of those years, they sold more tickets than any other touring stadium show in the world at the time, including AC/DC, U2, Pink, Madonna, and Coldplay. Its final performance was on 22 December 2019 at Taipei Arena, Taiwan.

In 2009, a serendipitous partnership took shape when Global Creatures’ co-founders Gerry Ryan and Carmen Pavlovic joined film director Baz Luhrmann and his creative partner, Catherine Martin for lunch in Sydney to explore adapting their iconic films for the stage. An instant creative bond was formed, with Global Creatures and their company, Bazmark, both sharing a deep love of Australian heritage, mixed with a shared drive to bring Australian stories to audiences around the world.

This set in motion the journey to stage Luhrmann’s MOULIN ROUGE! and the start of a seven-year international effort to bring the musical to life.

As we navigated complex negotiations across three continents, slowly piecing together the package of rights required to make Moulin Rouge! The Musical a reality, we also set our sights on bringing the first film in Luhrmann’s groundbreaking Red Curtain Trilogy to the stage, planting the seeds for a story that would eventually become Strictly Ballroom The Musical.

This partnership with Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin was a defining moment for Global Creatures, influencing the creative vision and ambition that continue to shape our productions today.

The next big opportunity came when Hollywood studio DreamWorks, led by cofounder Jeffrey Katzenberg, approached us to transform their Academy Award–nominated animated film How to Train Your Dragon into lifelike, flying dragons for the stage.

Preliminary discussions began, a ‘dragon feasibility study’ was launched, and in 2012, our new arena show How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular was launched across Australia, North America, and a limited engagement in China at Beijing’s Olympic Bird’s Nest Stadium.

Working closely with Creature Designer Sonny Tilders and the Creature Technology Company, 24 dragons of 10 different species were brought to life, many operated by remote-controlled ‘voodoo puppeteers.’ The dragons interacted with actors, acrobats, and circus performers immersed in a world brought to life by video projections and sophisticated animation software. The production featured flying, stunts, fire, and pyrotechnics, all combining to deliver one of the largest and most technically ambitious theatrical arena productions ever staged at the time, which required an unprecedented 40 semi-trailers just to tour across Australia.

When the idea for a live stage production of King Kong was first conceived in 2008, it was imagined as another arena spectacular, much like Walking With Dinosaurs and How To Train Your Dragon. But as the project evolved, so did our ambition, and we shifted direction to develop the show for a traditional theatre with our sights set on Broadway.

After five years of development, King Kong premiered in Melbourne, Australia in 2013 before making its Broadway debut in 2018, marking a milestone accomplishment and turning point for Global Creatures – where storytelling took centre stage and spectacle found a new home in the theatre.

King Kong was critically hailed for its groundbreaking mix of animatronics, puppetry, music and stagecraft. The show was honoured with a Special Tony Award® for the creation of the title character – a 2,000-pound, 20-foot-high gorilla operated by fourteen puppeteers.

In 2013, Global Creatures joined forces with the National Theatre of Great Britain to license and produce the Australian premiere of the acclaimed Tony Award®-winning theatre show, War Horse.  While Global Creatures is known for developing new work, War Horse aligned with the company’s creative vision, production values, and commitment to artistic excellence. The National Theatre’s intimate and yet epic staging showcased a masterful blend of exceptional puppetry, compelling performances and authentic storytelling. The show opened to record-breaking box office results for a play in Melbourne at the Regent Theatre, followed by successful seasons at the Sydney Lyric Theatre and QPAC’s Lyric Theatre in Brisbane.

Global Creatures’ original production of Strictly Ballroom The Musical launched its world premiere at the Lyric Theatre Sydney in 2014 before embarking on an Australian tour. Like the film, our musical repeated the original creative pairing of Baz Luhrmann as director and his Academy Award-winning wife, Catherine Martin, as designer of the dazzling sets and costumes. Strictly Ballroom The Musical had its international debut in 2016 at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, subsequently opened in Toronto, Canada, in 2017, and made its West End debut in 2018 at London’s Piccadilly Theatre.

From 2022-23 Global Creatures licensed Strictly Ballroom The Musical to Phil McIntyre Live for a UK tour visiting 39 cities. The title has also been licensed and produced in the US, and licensed via Origin Theatrical to make it available to amateur groups across Australia and New Zealand.

Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, Global Creatures’ third original musical, opened to critical acclaim at Sydney’s Rosyln Packer Theatre in 2017. Initially staged as a developmental co-production with Sydney Theatre Company, Global Creatures subsequently managed and produced an Australian touring commercial production. This national tour of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical began in March 2019 at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne, followed by Sydney’s Lyric Theatre from 28 June, and Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane from 19 September 2019.

Global Creatures acquired the rights to develop and produce the musical based on the celebrated Australian dramedy film, written and directed by PJ Hogan. In 2011, Global Creatures engaged PJ Hogan to write the book for the new stage musical, revisiting and updating the original, and brought Simon Phillips on board to direct the production. Award-winning multi-platinum selling Australian artists Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall were engaged to write original music and lyrics, to be performed alongside various iconic songs that Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Stig Anderson originally wrote for ABBA.

Global Creatures and Sony Music also released an original cast recording of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, produced by Carmen Pavlovic, Angela Dalton, Guy Simpson and Pip Norman. The album was nominated for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album at the 2018 ARIA Music Awards.

Our international plans for Muriel’s Wedding The Musical were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic but were reinvigorated afterwards – and in April 2025, Global Creatures and Leicester’s Curve Theatre staged the UK premiere of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical. This production features a new set by Matt Kinley, new costumes by Gabriela Tylesova, video design and creation by Andrzej Goulding, lighting design by Natasha Chivers and sound by Adam Fisher. In keeping with the musical’s ethos, the UK season also introduced a relative newcomer in the role of Muriel Heslop: British born, Megan Ellis, having previously cast Australian actors Max McKenna and Natalie Abbott in the leading role in the Australian productions. Simon Phillips has directed all three of its seasons so far – at the Sydney Theatre Company, the Australian national tour, and the UK premiere in Leicester.

In 2018, Global Creatures partnered with London’s Old Vic, the Bristol Old Vic and Jonathan Church Productions on A Monster Calls, based on the fantasy novel by Patrick Ness. The production premiered in May 2018 before transferring to the Old Vic that July.

A UK tour began in February 2020, but was paused just a month later by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the production made its triumphant return, reopening at the Rose Theatre in London, followed by performances at Bristol Old Vic, before heading to Washington, D.C., for a month-long engagement at the Kennedy Center. The tour featured an extensive outreach program with discussions, workshops, and community activities exploring the production’s central themes.

In 2024, Parco Theatre in Japan, in association with Global Creatures and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions presented A Monster Calls to Japanese audiences for the first time with performances in Tokyo and Osaka.

The Spectacular Spectacular

Remember that partnership formed with Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin back in 2009 over lunch in Darlinghurst? Global Creatures continued its decade-long pursuit of securing the underlying rights to stage MOULIN ROUGE! and assemble the perfect creative team to bring the movie to the stage. In 2018 Moulin Rouge! The Musical finally debuted in an out-of-town tryout at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre.

Following rave reviews from critics and audiences, the production set its sights on Broadway, officially opening at the Al Hirschfeld Theater on 25 July 2019 and making history as the first Australian-produced musical to originate on Broadway. The success of Moulin Rouge! The Musical has been nothing short of extraordinary, earning 14 Tony® Award nominations in 2021 and taking home 10, including Best Musical, cementing Global Creatures’ place in history as the first Australian company to receive the honour.

The show has since captivated audiences worldwide, with productions currently playing in New York, London, Cologne, Utrecht, and a North American Tour that’s been running since 2022. Past productions have included sell-out seasons in Tokyo (2023 & 2024), Osaka (2024), Seoul (2023 & 2025) and an Australian Tour (2021-2024).

In April 2025, we partnered with Nick Grace Management to launch the Moulin Rouge! The Musical World Tour, which kicked off in Edinburgh before continuing to Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin, and Zurich — with more cities soon to be announced. This marked a major milestone in the show’s global journey and highlights our ongoing growth as a producer of large-scale, internationally acclaimed musicals.

While our self-produced shows form the core of our portfolio, we also partner with some of the world’s leading producers to bring Moulin Rouge! The Musical to audiences in other international locations. These include Stage Entertainment in the Netherlands (Utrecht), ATG in Germany (Cologne), Toho in Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) and CJ ENM in Korea (Seoul). We work closely with these producers on their local productions and advise on many aspects, ranging from production, casting, music rights, to audience strategy and marketing campaigns.