Talk:Go, Diego, Go! Live!: The Great Jaguar Rescue (Jomaribryan's version)/@comment-2604:2000:1343:C444:F945:D658:2E29:A029-20191125104954




 * 37°

 New England Newspaper & Press Association's 2017 Newspaper of the Year *Newsletter
 * Twitter

1

Toggle navigationMENU PREVPreviousPREVIOUS
 * Contact Us
 * Subscribe
 * Login
 * E-Paper
 * App
 * Celebrations
 * Obituaries
 * Public Notices
 * Public Notices

Lessons from Mister Rogers: Hanks, Rhys talk about working o…
Tom Hanks and Matthew Rhys don’t know what to do with the ma… NEXTNext UpNEXT UP

Health and Well-Being:
The notion of “midlife crisis” refers to the feelings of chaos and disequilibriu… =North of Boston native brings Nickolodeon show 'Diego' to the stage= *Rosemary Ford, Staff writer
 * Mar 14, 2007

“Go, Diego, Go Live! The Great Jaguar Rescue,” which will be at The Opera House in Boston March 21 to 25. Carol Rosegg NewburyportNews.com, Newburyport, MA1



Growing up in Marblehead, Stuart Rosenstein got to act in school plays like “Bye, Bye Birdie” and “The Mouse Trap.” Besides learning his lines, he learned some very important lessons about his future in theater.

“I realized I would be better in production and directing,” joked Rosenstein.

Now Rosenstein, the vice president of Nickelodeon Theatricals, is getting the chance to do just that with “Go, Diego, Go Live! The Great Jaguar Rescue,” which comes to Boston next week.

Based on the popular Nick Jr. TV show “Go, Diego, Go!,” this theatrical production follows closely on the heels of “Dora the Explorer Live!” which sold close to 3 million tickets during its domestic run, making it one of Nickelodeon’s highest-grossing projects to date.

Rosenstein hopes “Go, Diego, Go Live!” can replicate the “Dora” show’s success. “The Great Jaguar Rescue” follows Diego, his sister Alicia and cousin Dora (the Explorer) on an action-packed, special mission to get Baby Jaguar’s growl back from the Bobo Brothers.

The trio will need the audience’s help to rescue animals, navigate through the rainforest and pass a giant waterfall to get to the Animal Carnivale. Featuring familiar songs and characters from the TV show, the live performances will take preschoolers and their parents on an interactive journey inspired by the rich environments of Latin America and the animals that make their homes in those habitats.

A show like this can be a bit of a change at first for children who are so used to the cartoon TV characters, not real people or puppets. However, Rosenstein said that kids so far have taken to the “real” characters pretty quickly.

“The preschoolers want to believe the story,” Rosenstein said.

During the show, kids play guessing games and learn a little Spanish, as well as some useful tidbits about animal habitats.

“A lot of that stuff is similar to the TV show, but we expand on it,” said Rosenstein. “From a visual and experiential sort of point-of-view, (the live show) is a deeper experience. It’s not just you and your family in front of a TV — it’s you and 2,000 other people in a theater.”

Putting “The Great Jaguar Rescue” together was a lot of fun for Rosenstein, who graduated from Marblehead High School in 1980.

“Each time, you try to raise the bar,” said Rosenstein. “How can we do something bigger and better? It has to appeal to parents, because over half the audience are parents. On this one, what we try to do is have amazing puppetry and more interactive moments for kids to be involved in. Every kid gets a free jaguar mask. They have to play along and be a part of the story. We keep trying to one up ourselves, from a production quality point-of-view and an interactive point-of-view.”

Rosenstein’s experience with producing and directing began in high school and continued through studies at Boston University, where he had a chance to work with Andover native Michael Chiklis, who went on to star in shows like FX’s “The Shield,” for which he won an Emmy.

After graduation, Rosenstein worked at a scenic production company in New York that did a lot of work for Nickelodeon and MTV, and later made the leap to producing full time for Nickelodeon. He helped assemble the creative team behind “Go, Diego, Go Live! The Great Jaguar Rescue,” which includes director Gip Hoppe from Cape Cod, who also worked on “Dora the Explorer Live!”

“It was a great team,” Rosenstein said. “It’s a show that lends itself to a live theatrical application because it is exciting and adventure-packed.”

While Rosenstein loves putting theatrical shows like “Diego” together, he does have one regret — that there were no shows like this when he was a kid growing up in Marblehead.

“When I was growing up, there was definitely the circus and some ice shows and I think that was it,” Rosenstein said. “Today, every hit kids’ TV show has a (theatrical) show out there.”

About ‘Go, Diego, Go!’

“Go, Diego, Go!” debuted in September 2005 on Nick Jr.’s regular weekday lineup.

The series was the No. 1 program with preschoolers for five consecutive quarters, and ranks among the top preschool programs with Hispanic kids ages 2 to 5 on commercial television.

On average, “Go, Diego, Go!” draws approximately 6.3 million kids ages 2 to 5 and 7.5 million adults 18 and over each month.

The show features 8-year-old Diego, a bilingual animal rescuer and nature expert who has the ability to talk to animals.

Each episode is flavored with Spanish words, Latin American music, folk tales and traditions. Diego and his friends encourage kids to use scientific thinking and investigative strategies to help animals in trouble.

Baby Jaguar is the animal closest to Diego’s heart, and his youthful eagerness sometimes puts him in precarious situations.

“Go, Diego, Go!” was created and is executive-produced by Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh, the same team behind “Dora the Explorer.”

If you go

What: “Go, Diego, Go Live! The Great Jaguar Rescue”

When: Wednesday, March 21, to Sunday, March 25

Where: The Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston

How: Tickets cost $21 to $53. Available at the box office, by calling Ticketmaster at 617-931-2787 or visiting Ticketmaster.com. For more on additional tour stops, exclusive “behind the scenes” tours, ticket sales and more, visit www.nickjr.com.