Clifford the Big Red Dog appears on St. Petersburg stage

The world's largest fictional canine started out in books more than a half-century ago, then made the move to television in 2003. Now he's coming to St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater on Sunday, live and in person.

"Clifford the Big Red Dog -- Live" is a stage musical version of the classic children's series that brings the oversized mutt and his devoted human friend Emily Elizabeth to life. The stage Clifford isn't quite as big as the book and TV versions. In the books he's supposed to be 25 feet tall, which wouldn't be too practical on stage. He's more like twice the size of Emily Elizabeth.

It's billed as a "family" show, but from the looks of the online videos it's strictly kids stuff.

Clifford's creator, Norman Birdwell, died less than a year ago. He was 86 and had written more than 50 "Clifford" books.

Although the story of Clifford's origins varies slightly from the books to the PBS TV series, Birdwell's original version has Emily Elizabeth picking Clifford from a litter of puppies to be her Christmas present. He's the runt of the litter but Emily Elizabeth's love and attention cause him to grow to enormous proportion, which ends up causing problems and leading to amiable adventures.

Details: 3 p.m. Nov. 22, Mahaffey Theater, 401 First St. S., St. Petersburg. Tickets: $22.50-$42.50. Information: 727-892-5767, themahaffey.com.

-- Marty Clear

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Clifford the Big Red Dog appears on St. Petersburg stage ."