Saturday, September 08, 2012
Behind the Scenes: Meet the Puppeteers at ‘Finding Nemo – The Musical’ at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Disney Parks Blog: It’s an absolute must-do for my family whenever we visit the park. I love the show’s original songs, and especially the ingenious puppets created by Michael Curry. The show uses a Japanese style of puppetry called bunraku, in which the puppeteer’s body becomes a part of the puppet, and puppets in this show range from the size of your hand to the size of a small car.
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10 comments:
In the theatre world, we often discredit Disney with being unoriginal and commercial. Yes, this show is based off of a movie, and of course the point is to attract people to it so they'll spend money in the park. But.... it's still art. You can't say those puppeteers and technicians on 'Finding Nemo - The Musical' work any less than we do. I think that style of puppeteering is really interesting, and really quite beautiful design wise. I saw comments on the actual article calling for this show to be a full Broadway production (in the style of Lion King), instead of the 30 minute show that it now is. I think that'd actually be a good idea, but it must be done quite soon while Finding Nemo is still a relevant and somewhat recent movie.
This looks like a great show for kids, as was the movie. The Puppets are identical to the characters and seem to have been made really well. I am a huge Finding Nemo fan and I would love to see how the puppeteers interact with each other to recreate the animation world that I love.
I agree with Kelly that it would be interesting to see it as a broadway show. Creating that world and set onstage with costumes and make-up would be lovely!!
That sounds like a pretty fun job! It is also cool that the puppets allow the actors to get to play those roles and are not type cast because of how they look; they just have to be amazing puppeteers and have the voice to pull it off. I also like that the puppeteers keep talking as if they are the puppets backstage that's pretty funny. Finding Nemo would be sweet as a musical and somewhat of a challenge, there are a ton of locations in that show and you have to make everyone look as if they are underwater most of the time.
I saw this show when I visited Disney World with my family, and I have to say that it was not personally to my taste. The puppets were extremely well made, and the sets wonderful, yet the style of puppetry did not allow me to immerse myself into the show, as fun as it was. The way the puppeteers were as much the characters as the puppets were left me confused, as I didn't know whether to watch the puppeteers or the puppets. In comparing these puppets to those in use on The Lion King, there is a distinct difference. The Lion King's puppets for the most part are much more part of the actors' bodies: this integrates them allows you to view them as one entity, unlike the puppets for the Finding Nemo show. I feel that the puppet style for Finding Nemo did not allow me to truly enjoy the show.
Hear ye hear ye. I will be actually bashing Disney on this post. First time for everything. I hate this show. I worked at Animal Kingdom (the park this show is located) and if people asked between this show and another attraction, I always nudged them gently towards the other attraction. While yes, the puppets and sets are truly to the epic Disney standard that they hold themselves to, there are a variety of issues that I have. One, like Dan Miele said, the distinction between operator and puppet is definate and sometimes the dialoge and interaction makes you question who it is your supposed to be watching. The second big issue I have with this show, is that the adaptation attempted to mimic the storyline of the movie, but in a 45 minute show. Of course things had to be cut. But sadly, the things they cut were some of the funniest bits and when the final show is performed, the story is cut and sometimes hilarious due to the quick transitions. "Oh no a sea of jellyfish!! What will we do?!?!" (Enter whale) "Thank goodness that boat saved us."
It's certainly a different approach than other mainstream puppet based productions have taken, which I find intriguing.'How To Train Your Dragon', 'Lion King', 'Walking With Dinosaurs', 'Avenue Q'...etc the Bunraku style prevents some very different hurdles for actors and technicians. While it isn't a large anima-tronic show, except for the car sized turtle, the actors flying while working their puppets is probably much more difficult to pull off than it looks. My question is, is this flying automated or not? Because even that adds another level of skill and artistry to it. Personally, if I went to see this show I would be watching it more for the spectacle than anything else.
After watching this video and reading the blurb, I cannot help but think back to when I first saw War Horse in Lincoln Center. War Horse is one of my favorite plays for many reasons, and the puppets used in the production leave its audience member’s in awe. While I also love Finding Nemo, I cannot imagine enjoying a production of Finding Nemo: The Musical to the extent in which I enjoyed War Horse. Finding Nemo is a movie of my childhood, and while I’m sure young visitors of Animal Kingdom enjoy viewing it in musical form, I just don’t think I would appreciate the production. In War Horse, the horses truly come to life through the puppeteers. In Finding Nemo, it seems as if the puppeteers are separating themselves from their character, whereas in War Horse the puppeteers become one with their character. Nemo and Dori are already alive and vibrant figures of my childhood and personally, I would not enjoy viewing them in a commercial theatre setting.
Although this may not be the best thing Disney has put on when looking at it from a more grown up point of view, but when you look at it as a kid going to Disney, this could be the best thing you've ever seen and that is exactly why I love Disney so much. They make things everyone can enjoy, but they try their hardest to alter a kid's reality for their whole day at the park(s). The artistry within this work looks astounding and you have to credit the designers for that. It isn't Disney's finest work, but when you look at what it's designed to do, it succeeds in every way possible.
First off, I've gotta say, as a total self-proclaimed Disney Geek, I was thrilled to find this article on here! Bringing Finding Nemo to life on the stage was certainly a big challenge, and Disney has found a great way of accomplishing this! The show is simply stunning and the puppeteers work absolutely seamlessly to create the magic Disney (and much of the theater world) is known for. The fact that the puppeteers must also sing and act, while controlling the puppets, is a whole other challenge for them and one that they've handled very well. Personally, I'd love to see the inner workings of the puppets, but for now I'm guessing that's all Disney will show us. I also have to agree with Jason's comments, that although this may not be Disney's best show, it certainly does what it was intended to do, and it does so wonderfully.
I think disney did a great job at recreating the characters from the movie and the fish puppets were wonderfully built, however, the world of the show is lacking. The ocean has a very ebb and flow motion to it, I wish that Disney had used puppetry not only for the characters but as a way to create the world. I would have also liked to the puppet Crush off a platform. Puppetry has a strong ability to be extremely free attaching a puppet to a rig limits this. Despite my complaints this looks great and I would love a change to see or possibly work on this.
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