New York Theater: This elaborate, tuneful puppet musical doesn’t just tell the story of the journey of Kim Pham from Vietnamese “hometown girl” riding a water buffalo to young romantic in Saigon to war refugee “boatperson” to mother of four sons in Houston, Texas. It threads the tale with Vietnamese history and mythology, populates it with elephants, lions, dragons and demons, presents it as shadow puppetry and a contemporary downtown spin on traditional Vietnamese water puppetry (complete with a stage-wide pool of water), and accompanies it with sixteen songs from rock to pop to country – all in 60 minutes. It’s a lot to take in: clever and colorful, but also crowded and confusing.
5 comments:
These puppets created for “The Magnificent Ms. Pham” are absolutely beautiful. Looking just at the images provided in this article, the choice of rougher shapes create a sense of abstraction that aligns with puppetry as a form of storytelling. A good example is the first photo where the figure’s hands and feet are still recognizable as those appendages, but they are more blocky than realistic. This keeps an allusion to the process in which the puppets were created, because you can see many of the sharp edges of each plane where the material was carved. This closely mirrors that suspension of disbelief that is required for puppetry. Obviously, these puppets are not realistic people walking across the stage, but there is still that feeling of character that is created through the puppeteer’s movements. In this same way, the blocky shapes create surfaces for the puppeteer to suggest bodily movement, while not having to articulate each knuckle and finger.
This puppet show almost seems experimental in a way. The storytelling does sound interesting, and overall, puppetry is a special skill. I think I would get a bit distracted, though. Don't get me wrong, the puppets are really cool, and so is the mini set. I just think there would be a lot happening for me to focus. The fact that this happens in 60 mins plus the variety and numbers of songs seems like a lot. Another thing that would distract me would be the puppets. I know they are not the ones to look at in a puppet show, but when they are standing right behind everything, I feel like I would notice the slight movements and get pulled from the story. I do think it is cool that there are actual vocalists rather than pre-recorded tracks. It seems that it would really bring you into it and set the tone.
I think it is really important to bring awareness to various types of art forms, especially considering the historical significance surrounding them. It is even more important to share various cultural art forms considering the current political climate. In a world that is trying to tear everyone apart, it is important that we stick together and learn and appreciate what makes one another unique. Unlike other puppet shows, the expectation is not that the puppets will seemingly move on their own, but that they will be gracefully guided by the puppeteers. This emphasis on sharing culture, heritage, and mythology despite the current odds reminds me of people’s response to Timothee Chalamet. The other day, he made the comment that “no one cares” about ballet or opera, which, on top of that insane comment, implied that certain art forms should be held in higher regard than others. The purpose of art is to make a statement and evoke an emotion, and there are many different ways to express that. As artists, we should focus on supporting one another and engaging where we can.
These puppets are so absolutely gorgeous and this whole show seems so cool. When it comes to the puppet construction something that really stood out to me is how you can still see a lot of the lions that are left from whittling away the wood. They aren't just completely smooth and it brings a lot of really nice texture to it, as well as giving it this very crafted feel. You can tell that somebody put in a lot of work to make them and I think that it really comes out in the final product of the puppets. I think the water is also a super interesting thing. I think it's really powerful how the show is pulling from traditional elements of Vietnamese water puppetry to convey a larger meaning. Something I wonder is because the puppets have joints, are there any issues with rust or water damage.
This seems like a beautiful and interesting story. It is cool that they are using traditional storytelling methods to tell it. What is most noticeable to me at first glance is the technical difficulty of having the stage be water. Especially when the set pieces and puppets are interacting with the water for the whole show. It would take significant planning in the design and materials of these pieces to make it so they are not deteriorating in the water and being able to use them show after show. We have talked about water on stage some this year with Kevin talking about logistics and because a show Chelsea designed had rain on stage. But we haven’t conceptualized something like this where parts of the set are submerged in water for long periods of time. And even the water that we have talked about requires specific planning so I can only imagine the set designer and puppet designer had to put serious consideration into water proofing.
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