Friday, November 14, 2008
Puppet plays hit Off Broadway
Variety: "Five years after 'Avenue Q' introduced foul-mouthed muppets to Broadway, growing fan bases and positive reviews have helped puppet perfs like pirate tuner 'Jollyship the Whiz-Bang' and drag spectacular 'Arias With a Twist' make a splash Off Broadway."
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4 comments:
As I've said before one of the mediums that CMU Drama has made me respect is puppetry. Before I came here I thought they were just silly but between discussing their history here and seeing that they can tackle actual adult issues in Avenue Q I think about them as a medium and not a children's toy anymore.
The success of all of these Off-Broadway puppet plays makes me wonder whether it is the content of the plays that is attracting the audience, or merely the attraction of the puppets. In Avenue Q's case, the show did so well because it used puppets in a show that had an actual point, while maintaining its comedy, but I wonder about all of the other puppet plays following in its footprints, and I hope they are making an effort to remain well-written.
For me puppets are similar to mask work. And like mask work a heavy season of it is overkill. However using puppets does not mean B-rated theatre and as long as it is not included for the sake of gimmick but included into the plot, especially if the puppet interacts with a human cast, then I see no reason why the puppet plays cannot be just as good as a "normal" play. The adult swim reference in the article brings up a good point that the puppets are like cartoons for movies. They can deal with certain themes that just look odd with real actors. This allows a new is not different range of themes to be explored therefore expanding the boundaries of theatre. Best of luck to the puppets.
I wish this article would have acknowledged the fact that Forgetting Sarah Marshall has also helped bring "puppet shows" into a more mainstream audience. The Off-Broadway success of these shows will be recognizable to theatre fans, but to mainstream audiences, they have come back into fashion in part because of this film. Also, as a result, Henson Studios has hired Jason Segel to make a new muppet movie, which will bring it even more into the mainstream.
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