April 3rd, 2025 
Jackson Murphy 
The stage production facet of PAW Patrol is on a roll! Newest show (the fourth overall), is PAW Patrol Live! A Mighty Adventure, a collaboration between VStar Entertainment Group, Nickelodeon, Viacom and Spin Master. It’s touring North America throughout 2025, making stops this month in Chicago, Philadelphia, Albany, NY and The Big Apple. Performance Director Jeff Dietzel, a performer on previous PAW Patrol shows, joins me to discuss A Mighty Adventure (which picks up right where the second feature film leaves off) and what families can expect from this epic experience. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: What are your earliest memories of learning about “PAW Patrol” and what it was gonna become?
Jeff Dietzel: I was working on a different brand with the company. I used to work with “Sesame Street Live”. It was the final year of “Sesame Street” and they started talking about this new production of “PAW Patrol Live!” And I said, “What the heck is Paw Patrol?” This was around 2016 or 2017. I was 25 years old. I don’t have kids. So I was like, “What is this?” I really had no idea how big it was gonna become. The show’s been on for over 12 years now. So it’s really cool to see how much it has grown and expanded. And now they have all these new different branches of “PAW Patrol” episodes. They’re knights or they’re all truck drivers.
JM: The second movie, 2023’s “The Mighty Movie”, is a lot of what this show is based around, right?
JD: What’s really cool, and what we as a company had never done before, is we’re taking direct reference from the movies and inspiration from that. While the other “PAW Patrol Live!” shows are based on the TV show, this directly correlates to the film. It takes place right after the events of the film. They just saved the city. And so to thank the PAW Patrol, the city wants to throw them a big street party. But then the villain from the movie, Victoria Vance, hears about it and she gets really jealous. So she has this new invention that she wants to use to sabotage the party, and it’s up to Ryder and the pups and all of our friends in the audience to use their mighty power so they can help save the day.
JM: That’s awesome. I didn’t realize it was, it was a direct follow up, which is great — to give kids and families a new story.
JD: I know Nickelodeon was very involved and they obviously have final say about everything. I know it was a huge collaborative effort between VStar Entertainment, which is our production company, and Nickelodeon and Paramount and Spin Master to make sure they get all the details right, to make sure everything correlates well from the movie and has a smooth transition into our show.
JM: That’s great. That was such a big hit in theaters. And the third one is gonna be “The Dino Movie”.
JD: I know. I’m very excited for it! (laughs)
JM: What blows your mind about how big these characters are?
JD: They’re very cool. I used to be a performer with them. I can confirm Rubble is the heaviest. (laughs) It’s very cool to see how they translated “The Mighty Movie” costumes into our live show. They have LED lights built into the puppets that are all controlled by our time code and our lighting board. So it’s all built in. It’s a puppet, but also kind of like a robot. The style of puppetry is really cool. You have the puppet around you, but you’re able to see the top half of the performer. So that way they’re able to speak live and they’re able to emote for puppets. Whereas, if it’s just a puppet, you can’t really read their facial expressions or things like that. So it’s a really cool and unique style of puppetry that I’ve really enjoyed working with.
JM: And you gotta work with the performers to get the timing down, the movement down, the rhythm down, of walking, but also dancing. So there has to be a lot of factors at play when it comes to all that.
JD: Yeah. Every time that I’ve worked on a new contract with new performers who are brand new to the pup costumes, I tell them, “Learn the choreo as we teach it to you, but just know, you’re gonna have to adjust it.” And especially depending on which pup you play, that affects how much movement you have of certain body parts, like your legs. It’s definitely a learning curve and learning experience getting used to those puppets.
JM: And you had that experience being a performer. So you bring your expertise with that into working with the new crew, and I’m sure that’s a great match for everyone — to have a guide like you to show them away like this. That must be awesome.
JD: It’s been really fun. I don’t think of myself as this expert, but when I think about it, yeah, I do have a lot of experience with these pups, so it’s really awesome to be able to pass down that knowledge and information. And to see people understand it is a really cool feeling.
JM: Nice. And you mentioned the LED lights, the set pieces, the visuals, what families are gonna experience and what the performers have to experience. I’m sure there’s a timing that goes into everything. And what kind of visuals can everyone expect?
JD: Our show is honestly kind of like one big karaoke track. We don’t have a live orchestra. It’s all run through what’s called time code. We hit play and all the music and the sound effects and the lighting are all programmed to run together and run smoothly as one big thing. The performers do have the task of making sure they have their timing of choreography or even if it’s just a dialogue, making sure they say certain lines. Our video wall with the special effects has been really helpful in bringing the Mighty Pups’ powers to life. It’s very tricky to kind of make superpowers seem believable on stage, but I think our design team and our video editor did a really great job getting all those powers on stage. And our choreographer and director did a great job with blocking and to make sure everything is that seamless and really looks like those pups have mighty powers on stage.
JM: And that’s just gotta be awesome for kids — and to see these kids look at these powers and look at everything going on.
JD: One of the first superpowers we see in the show is Rocky using his mighty magnetic power where he can lift things of metal all around. And when folks see that first, it’s a bowl of pup treats that lifts up — and folks don’t see it coming and it’s just cool to really hear their reaction. You get this big “Whoa!” from the audience. It’s really awesome. And the whole show honestly is kinda like a rock concert for kids. ‘Cause we don’t want them to sit down in their seats and be quiet. We want them up and dancing and singing along and waving to their favorite characters. It’s a great first experience for live theater for kids because we know it can be hard to sit down for 90 minutes and try to be quiet. So we want them up and singing and dancing too.
I really love this brand — the characters and the world of “PAW Patrol”. Whenever we get new performers in, they’re fresh outta college. They didn’t watch “PAW Patrol” growing up, so they really don’t know it. And I’ll say like, “Oh yeah, on this one episode, Rocky did this and…” And they’re like, “What are you talking about?” And I said, “I know far too much about the PAW Patrol universe. I’m just a big fan.” (laughs)
JM: So you had to watch “PAW Patrol” episodes to really get a deep dive in order to work on these shows. Is that the most unique studying of your life? “Yeah, I’m gonna binge and get the education of PAW Patrol”.
JD: It’s funny, I started my career after college working with “Sesame Street Live”, so I’ve just kind of stayed in this, “What do kids like? What do you think kids think are cool? What are kids gonna potentially ask about in our meet and greets with characters?” So I like to have a lot of knowledge about the subject.
JM: That’s fantastic. “Sesame Street”. “PAW Patrol”. These beloved brands from childhood that still have an impact on you as an adult and still have impact on adults too, who are bringing these kids. That’s perfect.
JD: I really love it. I never expected to spend so long in kids’ theater, but I’ve really kind of developed a passion for it. I love seeing the reaction from kids on stage. When they see their favorite character come out and they scream and they lose their minds, it’s really cool. I had a kid one time… I was in the cast, but [for] part of my track I went into the audience and he just asked, “How do I go on stage like you one day?” And I was just like, “Whoa. That’s really cool.” We really are making a big difference to these kids, and it feels really special.
For tickets and more info, visit PawPatrolLive.com.
- INTERVIEW: From Screen To Stage With “PAW Patrol Live! A Mighty Adventure” - April 3, 2025
- INTERVIEW: The Strength Of “Iyanu” - April 2, 2025
- INTERVIEW: The Spirit Of “The King Of Kings” - March 31, 2025
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