William May

May helped to design dinosaurs featured in Walking with Dinosaurs – The Live Experience.

William H. "Billy" May (30 August 1953 – 31 December 2009) was an American-born Australian artistic director, theatre producer and composer. May was best known for creating the Walking with Dinosaurs – The Live Experience, an arena show based on the BBC documentary television mini-series, Walking with Dinosaurs. The production, which debuted in 2007 and features 15 lifelike dinosaurs designed by May, has been called "one of the largest and most acclaimed shows to come out of Australia." May earned a scholarship to Carnegie Hall to study dance when he was twelve years old. May hired approximately fifty people to create the dinosaurs using his designs.

He chose Sonny Tilders, one of the film and television industries' leading professionals in the field of animatronic puppetry, to head the development of the dinosaurs. May designed the fifteen life-size dinosaurs used in the production. Ten species of dinosaurs are included in the show, including the Liliensternus, Plateosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Utahraptor and Torosaurus. The largest dinosaur in the production, the Brachiosaurus, which most resembles the cranes which inspired the show, measures 56 feet long and 36 feet tall.

The live adaptation, which debuted in 2007, was called Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular in Australia, but was later marketed under the name, Walking with Dinosaurs – The Live Experience in North America and Europe.

Walking with Dinosaurs cost $20 million to create and was an instant commercial success. The Hollywood Reporter described Walking with Dinosaurs as "one of the largest and most acclaimed shows to come out of Australia."

According to Polstar, Walking with Dinosaurs was the best-selling non-musical touring production in North America in 2009. The production grossed $46.2 million and sold more than one million tickets throughout the United States and Canada leg of the tour.

As of early 2010, May's Walking with Dinosaurs – The Live Experience is still touring arenas and stadiums throughout North America and Europe.

Death May died of pneumonia at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, on 31 December 2009, at the age of 56. He was survived by his partner of 37 years, Malcolm Cooke. May's funeral was held at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne.