The evening event takes the stage at Spreckles Organ Pavilion at the city's iconic Balboa Park.

The creative team:

Mark J. Howell, Senior Creative Director and Executive Producer, Mark Joseph Creative
Jordan Peterson, Show Writer
Gregg Birkhimer, Show Director
Ron Colvard, Musical Director/Conductor
Jeremy Rubolino, Composer
Greg Sample, Lead choreographer
Matt Carney, Choreographer
Kraig McLaughlin, Costume Design
Nicole Bernardi, Innovative Entertainment

The production team:
Greg Christy, Brite Ideas
Mike Spangler, Spangler Event Production
Melissa Armstrong, Event Producer, Mark Joseph Creative
Samantha King, Event Coordinator, Mark Joseph Creative

San Diego’s official civic organist, Carol Williams, gives a 20-minute concert at the Speckles Organ Pavilion, the world’s largest outdoor pipe organ.         

Stunning projections on the venue's façade display 10 different habitat scenes.

Another habitat scene.

A long view.

Dancers take the stage.

A 53-piece orchestra, accompanied in parts by a 130-person choir and eight principal singers played the all-original musical score, composed to represent each animal species featured in the show.

The show included more than 60 performers and two actors.

The pageantry puppets included two orangutans, a Northern white
rhino, seven giraffes, and a flamboyance of 11 flamingos--brought to life before the audience’s eyes.

The puppets are symbols of species that San Diego Zoo Global has worked with for much of its history, including the California condor, which once numbered only 22 and now numbers more than 400, with more than half of the population living in the wild.

Animal projections play across the venue's façade.

Animal projections.

Animal projections.

A long view.

The musical headliner of the show, Tony- and Grammy-winner Heather Headley, wowed the crowd with a song whose lyrics encourage everyone to help make the world a better place and echoes San Diego Zoo Global’s goal of saving endangered species around the world from extinction, one species at a time.

Headley is currently performing in "The Color Purple" at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in New York.

The production featured presentations from San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego City Councilmember Todd Gloria, and San Diego Zoo conservation ambassador Joan Embery, honoring the San Diego Zoo and thanking the San Diego community for its support throughout the years.

The speakers shared the stage with three large gift boxes that were delivered earlier in the week to Balboa Park. When the gifts were opened, they revealed an "Asian elephant," a "California condor" and an "African lion"--all amazing puppets.

The stunning "elephant" puppet.

The star of the show was the "lion." The 11-foot-tall, 15-foot-long lion was operated by four puppeteers.

More beautiful projections on the façade.

A big-time ballyhoo.