5 Times Theatre Puppets Stole the Show
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
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From giant killer plants to dancing snowmen, puppets and theater just go hand in hand, or…hand in sock?
But what how have some of these show stealing puppets come to be?
Let’s find out.
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A.E. Reinhart
Alice
Ann
Ann Marie Wilson
Anon!
Ayinde
Blythe Lavender
Brent Black
Cameron Abaroa
Cindy Lindsay
Danniella
Deena Abdullat
Devra Gatling
Emily Ingram
Ethan
Frances McGinn
jack walk
Katie McGuire
Kelseigh Ingram
Lawren Kinsey
Lucia Figueras
Marisa
Megan McCasland
MindlessNonsense
Orange
Phil Edwards
Rachel Goodman
Savannah Cash
stephen seale
Taekook
The Dirty Bubble
Timothy Murray
Tom Norris
Toryana Frazier
yamiangie
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:22 Let's Talk Puppets - Zábava
What are some of YOUR favorite puppets?
Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors)
The cast of Sesame Street/the Muppets (They've had live shows + an Off Broadway Sesame Street musical)
Winnie the Pooh & friends (Winnie the Pooh the Musical)
Timon, Pumbaa & Zazu (The Lion King)
Olaf & Sven (Frozen)
Sandy the Sandworm & Book (Beetlejuice the Musical)
GOD I LOVE PUPPETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was mentioned near the beginning of the video, but I love Sandy the Sandworm from Beetlejuice!
Two shows you would never have seen. The first is Aliens - the Puppet Musical by Meat and Potato Theater in Salt Lake City, UT. A wildly wonderful Avenue Q-esque take on the movie Aliens. The second was a dinner theater version of The Pirates of Penzance that had 6 actors, one of whom portrayed a pirate with two pirates puppets in the first act, and the police Sargeant with two police puppets in the first party of act two, and swapped out one of the police puppets of a pirate in the second half of act two. This pirate puppet also turns out to be a woman in disguise. The puppeteer did 7 distinct voices through the course of the show and nearly lost his mind. It was wonderful!
life of pi tiger for sure!!!
My favorite puppet is pretty simple- it’s Olaf from “Frozen: Live! at the Hyperion”. It was essentially a boiled down version of the Frozen musical that played at Disney’s California Adventure park. It had a live actor dressed as a Arendelle citizen who spoke the lines and sung while puppeteering a height appropriate Olaf. The show also had a puppet of Sven, the reindeer.
That War Horse puppet is so incredibly expressive, it's a real testament to its designers and performers when audience members think they saw it blink its eyes or change entirely mid-show. And the puppeteers were just right there onstage, too. Amazing.
yeah i’m still thinking about it too. it’s such a beautiful use of lighting and puppet design it’s really cool
I remember my theatre professor talking about that, he said just seeing the horse breathe was worth the price of admission.
I saw Warhorse when it was in Toronto, and it was easy to forget it was not a real horse and was in fact a puppet and I’ve worked with horses for years.
The Milky White segment might be my.... favorite thing you have ever put up on the channel. We stan Milky White in this house.
Please don't say "stan". It stands for "stalker fan".
@@BassGal92we stan this comment
These puppets are so wonderful.
You know, since circuses can’t use animals anymore, they could always use these puppets.
Oh my god, that would be amazing!
Also since ots mechanical if made strong enough it can even be involved in the circus act beyond jist acting and clownery. Imagine that war horse but the acts use it like a vaulting horse.
Cirque du soleil actually did use puppets.
At least in their adaptation of James’ Cameron’s Avatar.
I'd never heard about the Narnia puppets until now, but I /adore/ all the choices they made with Aslan. Making him a multi-puppeteer puppet to convey his movement? Wonderful. The terracotta look to simultaneously avoid hitting 'uncanny valley' teritory with pseudo-realism? Lovely. Making him both a human actor and a puppet depending on what the scene called for, because the entire story is magical and the visual metaphor blends well, getting the best of both worlds? Fantastic.
There's a very fun bit in the Into the Woods tour (the one with /this/ Milky White, anyway) where when she gets stolen, another actor flat out /grabs the puppet from Kanagawa and runs offstage, leaving him staring in shock/. 10/10 cow, no notes.
There is a really interesting short documentary on the creation of the puppet made for Aslan from the BBC Narnia series. It’s just as impressive and astounding.
At first I was a bit surprised there was no mention of My Neighbour Totoro. It's easily the best show playing in London at the moment, and the puppetry far eclipses anything in this video, but I guess it must be because they go out of there way to keep the big reveals a secret, so there's not much to see on the internet. But trust me, when you first see big Totoro, you cry. You just do. It's the most beautiful production I've ever seen in a theatre.
totally agree, I have seen a lot but seldom am I moved to tears by the elegance and magic of what theatre can be. Easily in my top 5 theatre experiences
In 2023, nearly all of the shows I saw contained puppets but, of the six shows I saw, two had puppets that gave me powerful emotions.
When I saw Lord of the Rings in September, the Nazgûl were beautifully portrayed by these skeleton horse puppets that had this unsettling yet charming feeling to them, but that was nothing compared to Shelob, a giant spider puppet that filled my body with fear, despite the fact that it was only a head and four legs, it felt like there was a real spider taking up the entire stage, preparing to kill Frodo.
Alternatively, all the way back in January, I saw My Neighbour Totoro and, by god, the puppets that the Jim Henson Creature Shop made for that show were gorgeous. Every single puppet brought so much joy to me, from the chickens and the goats to the soot sprites and the cat bus. The show used several Totoro puppets, depending on the scene, each filled with a lot of charm but, when Totoro first appeared as this giant sleeping puppet splayed out and taking up the entire stage, you could sense this magical feeling spreading throughout the entire audience and, honestly, I’d do anything to experience that again.
Where did you see Lord of the Rings? Was it at the Watermill?
@@kellyoconnor5684 Yeah, I absolutely loved it.
I saw My Neighbor in January and was moved to tears by the puppetry, particularly the rice field scene; the rice, the skis. It was magic and elegant. I hope to see bunraku in Japan
I will never forget the first time I saw the War Horse puppet. It was absolutely breathtaking.
When it appeared on stage, I literally wept at the beauty and imagination.
I never knew he was a puppet, glad to support puppet content creators.
My felt covered heart thanks you
I was lucky enough to see War Horse in London, incredible puppet! Unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
I saw it in NYC.
@@emilyholasek63 Me too. Brought tears to my eyes as a close friend had died a few months before I saw it who was a dressage champion in her youth. I wished she was there to see it with me.
I saw it in Toronto. Amazing experience!
"Black Beauty" would be an amazing book to adapt as a play using the same puppetry as "War Horse". I could imagine the "running for the doctor" scene, or the "Beauty as a London cab horse" scene. How amazing would that be!....
Watching this reminded me how much I loved War Horse. I saw it almost a decade ago. Would love to see it again. But as far as favorite puppets go, for me it's the combination of costumes and puppetry in the Lion King. I can't watch the opening number without feeling moved and in awe.
I saw The Lion King on tour several years ago and watching giraffes in procession down the aisles while birds whirled overhead was such a magical moment for me.
GOD I love puppetry. I saw Lion/Witch/Wardrobe the weekend before it closed, I was center house, and my soul TRANSCENDED. That whole show is so breathtaking and full of wonder. And of course, War Horse is astounding; I never saw the show in person, but my mom used to be a theater teacher and she always started her unit on puppetry with a documentary about the Joey puppet.
I got to meet one of the performers playing Sven in Frozen recently, she played him in London (my memory is shitty so i dont remember her name, sorry sorry!) And she was incredible to talk to, such a talented and lovely person who seemed delighted at my slightly overethousiastic questions.
Can you do like a thirty minute video about theater puppets please this was some of the most fun I've had here these are all so GOOD
So cool to learn that Handspring Puppet Company made the horses for Warhorse. I was able to see its project Amal in Montgomery. She was amazing to see, being able to see “her” and the performers at the same time.
I was lucky enough to see War Horse and ITW and the puppets were incredible live - at War Horse, it took my breath away watching the transition from baby Joey into the main Joey puppet when I saw the show and then, of course, Milky White in ITW was just so darn cute (shout-out to Kennedy Kanagawa for giving her such personality)! ❤️🥹
Having had the chance to see War Horse live, I was astounded by Joey and Topthorn, as well as the goose hand puppet. Shame they haven’t gone back on tour since.
Lion King was amazing. War Horse, Life of Pi and the sold out live theater production of My Neighbor Totorto also looked amazing.
I work for the beetlejuice national tour and the sandworm is incredibly expensive, its a smaller size compared to the one used on broadway in new york, but the sandworm uses a basic wheel system operated by two people and heard it cost somewhere between 15,000-20,000 to make
If you want more puppets from James Ortiz and a life-changing show, go watch The Woodsman, an almost wordless play based on the tin Wizard of Oz character!
I LOVE the reference to the milky white that lost its leg! My absolute favorite clip
I saw the tour production if that Into the Woods. It was also funny when the actor playing the baker grabbed the cow from him saying something like "I gotta go," and ran offstage with the puppeteer chasing after him. And then later when the witch brings the cow back to life and she says "Hey!" For him to come back.
thank you so much for sharing these details, i am cackling
Why… am I getting emotional about theatrical puppets?
In all honesty though, this was an amazing look into how theater has taken amazing leaps to create amazing effects through such incredible pieces of art, and themselves theater, and has come a long way to elevate these amazing creators and the potential they bring to this kind of storytelling
The stage adaptation of The Ocean at the End of the Lane had some incredible and terrifying puppets that still haunt my nightmares
I really wish I had seen that show. I wanted to so bad but just didn’t have the money when the tour came near me.
absolutely !!! i saw ocean at the theatre in my city, incredible show !
Here in Milan we have two theatres entirely pupput based: one is for Opera (Colla), the second is for prose, not only for kids (Buratto). It's an art of itself, I love it
I love theatre, and the fact that the level of willingness towards the suspension of disbelief is so high. I love that we can present things in such a magical way which would never be acceptable in film. I also, for the most part, love when theatre creatives are willing to go out on a limb and deviate from the traditional. With that being said, there is one issue which I simply cannot waiver, and that is a puppet Milky White. Call me a traditionalist if you must, but the original Milky White was such an ingenious idea, if for nothing more than that brilliant sight gag of The Baker grabbing her by the handle and running across the stage. And yes, I know that even that one had a mechanism so it could eat the objects at the end of Act I.
The Aslan puppet is gorgeous! I would have loved to have seen the adapted stage production of "Spirited Away" in Japan as the puppets of the various spirits looked amazing!
Great title! Interest-grabbing without trying too hard
I remember a production of The Lion the witch and the wardrobe that played near me that had a wicker basket looking aslan a lot like that war, horse it was so cool! They had it waking around near out local target to promote the show for some reason
I’ve been waiting for this video for ever 😭, as a puppeteer I love that you showcased these puppets from these amazing shows
I saw a production of Pacific Overtures last year at Signature Theatre in Virginia with some great puppetry. A great example of puppetry being used to elevate material that doesn’t originally ask for it.
getting to see the king kong puppet live is one of the highlights of my theatre going experiences- it was truly magnificent
Love this channel always have, glad to find out about shows I’ve never heard of this far into my theatre career and obsession ❤
I love puppets in theater!! one of my favorite performances was a two man opera called The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak that was performed by four puppeteers, two of which were the singers. The first time I ever watched it I had to watch it twice, it's absolutely incredible. It's based on the story of Tarrare, but it's fully sung by a baritone and a tenor with a strong soprano range. The puppets are disturbing, as are the setpieces, but that's the point and it's incredible.
also roblox turkish delight is funny as fuck
There was one other show that not a lot of people know about due to it being so obscure. It was a 1998 London stage production of Doctor Dolittle, co-produced by the Jim Henson Company. There's not a lot of footage of it sadly. No official recording, not even a bootleg recording-it's essentially lost media. It's a shame because the puppets on that show looked incredible!
I saw BOOP! The Musical last month and the puppet dog they used was one of the most adorable things I've ever seen.
I havent even watched the full video yet but this whole time im like: starkid, starkid, starkid, starkid, starkid
Pincer, wiggly in Black Friday (If that counts), snarl; Starkid has so many amazing puppets
I think Wait in the Wings wouldve put Snarl on the list, if he chose anything from Starkid. Just based on the liveliness and full body action. Pincer is a good option too, but I blame that more on Dillon, Robert, and Lauren who manned the OG 'scoprion king'. @@rachelklotz8452
that’s what i was thinking !! the puppets in starship are so good
0:45 - I need a Puppet Brendon in my life!
I’d also say, the recent life of pi play is pretty incredible. All the puppets? Absolutely amazing!
Here's an interesting Broadway show to topic for a possible future video:
What do you get in one of the most gruesome bloodiest horror movie franchises that place people in the most disturbing and gruesome traps while figuring out puzzles, the topics of what it means to be alive or not, etc, and turning into songs and dances....
You get Saw the Musical the unauthorized parody of Saw
Life of Pi was probably one of the most profound theater experiences I have had and it was because of all of the amazing puppets that they throughout the show. Milky White is also perfect.
My nephew went to see War Horse and he loved it, and he normally can't sit still or pay attention long enough to enjoy that sort of thing.
Personally, I would've included the title character from the RSC's production of My Neighbor Totoro, but given there isn't much footage, if any, of it online, I don't blame you for not including it.
The only puppets from Totoro that have been publicised are the soot sprites, chicken and goat. We keep Totoro, Chu, and Chibi a secret so each audience gets to experience the magic of their reveals.
@@thevoicesstalk Oh, are you with the production? ‘Cause it was a smart move; I was really blown away by the first giant Totoro puppet and the Cat Bus.
Also, I’m really hoping that production gets a proshot like the stage version of Spirited Away did!
@@ryanschwartz4959 yep, I worked in Wardrobe on the original run and am back again for the second run. XL is the most magical for certain.
I don’t know if they’ll do a pro shot but it would be lovely to share the magic.
I wish you'd known and covered the Logos Theatre's Narnia productions. They just toured "The Horse and His Boy" where two of the four leads are horses that speak and emote and have to be rideable. They were amazing!
I think for me seeing the Lion King was a super crazy, specifically the Circle of Life. The puppets they had were absolutely gorgeous and the actors did an amazing job of bringing them to life. I think I remember the Elephant mother and her baby, the zebra, the cheetah, and the giraffe the most. So incredibly life-like in their movements.
I've loved horses since I was a kid and I've ridden for many years. When I saw War Horse, it took *seconds* for my brain to fully accept "yeah, that's a horse." From the baby colt puppet at the very beginning, between the build of the puppets and the incredible performance of the puppeteers, the horses move so correctly--it is absolutely mind blowing. Yes, you can see the puppeteers the whole time, it does not matter at all, you cannot convince yourself you're not looking at a living breathing creature.
I’m so curious about the Milky White puppet, because the original statue is hilarious. When he is carried off stage or falls over all on its own, it’s great!
But this new version sounds amazing! And Into the Woods is perfect for suspending disbelief.
Shucks... missed out on *Puppets Take Manhattan!!!* oh well. Great as always WITW ❤
I love puppetry. In one way or another, you can always see the strings. But if the performance is good enough, it doesn't matter. The puppet is alive in the viewer's eyes.
I watched a recorded version of "The Woodsman" for a college assignment last year, and was stunned by the puppetry they did for the characters. I'd never seen puppets be used in a play before, and it was done so well that the puppeteers controlling them just disappeared in my mind; it was like the puppets were real
I really enjoy your channel it's fun and informative please keep up the Fantastic content.. Peace
One link sadly but understandably missing is the National Theatre’s 2003 hit stage adaptation of His Dark Materials. Michael Curry created the puppets, and their construction was inspired by those kind of lanterns made of willow frames with tissue paper skins. Lit from within, these puppets had an ethereal quality perfect for their subjects (they were used most prominently for the ‘daemons’, the animal-shaped spirit companions of a lot of the human characters).
Their staging was also inspired partly by bunkaru as well as other branches of Japanese theatre. There were some really clever things gone with the puppets and puppeteers to convey certain ideas and Thebes from the books.
Unfortunately being from 2003 the production is barely archived. You can find production images of the puppets but not really any video.
One of my favorites that I've seen in person were the ents for Turun Kaupunginteatteri's LOTR play back in 2018, and Smaug for their Hobbit play in 2021
I really enjoyed this video because I’m currently puppeteering Audrey ll in my high schools production of Little Shop of Horrors! It’s my first time puppeteering a puppet and I really enjoy doing it and hope to do it more!!
To save you a click at the end, the King Kong musical BOMBED HARD.
Love this!
Im a simple person, WITW posts a video, I click like
Everytime I see Joey get used for special occasions here in the UK, I get quite emotional. I've never seen War Horse (always wanted to but never have) but read the book and he really is such a special horse ❤
I was lucky enough to meet a handful of the puppeteers for King Kong, and you can tell that they all absolutely LOVE what they do. Very proud of their work, and they have every right to be. It's impressive in videos, but in person it was breathtaking
Puppets give so much life to theater, because of the suspension of disbelief you can really make such beautiful artistic choices with puppets instead of trying to make it realistic
What is amazing work of a engineers and sculptors also performance turn those animal from movies alive into a stage! It’s bring me goose bumps to watch those amazing actions!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
War Horse is one of the most powerful pieces of theatre ive ever seen. I have always loved puppets, but Nat Theatre's production did something to me
I’m still mad I never got to see War Horse when it came to my city
I played Milky White in my theater and I chose to copy James Ortiz's design. (I researched if he copyrighted the design and couldn't find anything, besides, this was for highschool theater and we didn't make anything off of it.) And let me tell you, the whole cast and crew fell in love with her even though I made her from the contents of my recycle bin and hot glue. The mechanics were the same and I didn't even have money to buy fancy stuff and it still turned out fantastically.
This comment is just saying that James Ortiz is a genius who created probably the best design for a single person operated, full bodied, cheap and easy to make puppet (which was fantastic for my incredibly tiny theater group, seriously, don't do Into the Woods with a small group, we only had four techies it was a nightmare) Broadway probably has and also made this stage-frightened techie with a love for puppetry go on stage for the first (and only) time sheerly for the absolute delight of seeing his Milky White for the first time and falling in love with it.
i remember getting to see War Horse on stage. what's so weird about it is that I was able to block out the fact that there were puppeteers on stage the entire time, it really felt like there was a horse on stage. I also remember at the end of the play when we were clapping, the audience ended up clapping the loudest for the goose. not Joey, but the goddamn goose XD
This video reminded me I've seen Warhorse. Outside of the puppets it was so forgettable I literally forgot about it lmao 😂
HEY. I've been watching for a while and I am a huge fan. And I am doing the show very soon I have to ask...could you PLEASE do a video covering Once on This Island?
What?! No love for the GOAT theatre puppet Audrey II?!
My neighbor Totoro at the barbicon in london was pne of the most beautiful, moving productions i ever saw. The puppets by basil twist are brilliant
Genuinely shocked that there’s not mention of the divisive but stunning Lord of the Rings Musical, especially in its more ambitious Toronto iteration.
There were multiple puppets throughout the show- huge and terrifying ones. At one point there was the fight with the giant spider with a puppet manned by at least half a dozen people. Fantastic stuff!
I love the Witch in The Woodsman! I didnt know what the show was about and that puppet was so cool
Great list.
I played Pumbaa the Warthog in the Original Toronto production of The Lion King. He was made of cheese-cloth painted Kevlar, metal, wire skeleton. It was about 20lbs and we had a minth rehearsal for the blocking and a month to work with the automated set and stage deck. I played him for 2.5 years. It was a bit of a stressor on my liwer back and right bicep tendon.
I had the easiest puppet to wear. I was told by the co designer of Julie Taymor, The Broadway Tony award winning directer that it was worth over $30,000.
I love your videos
Can’t wait for this list to get updated with Pudgy from “Boop!” 😍
This video is made for me... puppetry is a great hobby to have.
The people who did War Horse also did The Ocean At the End of The Lane, which was AMAZING when I went to see it at my local theatre
More puppet content, please!
The War Horse Goose stole the show for me when we watched it
I saw the Melbourne production of King Kong and it was spectacular.
With Mean Girls coming out this weekend, it would be great to see a video about the shows that go from screen to stage to screen!
Awww! Puppet You is so adorable! 🤗
War Horse was stunning.
I always thought theaters are quiet boring bc. When we would go to the Theater with the school, it wasnt really interesting. But the clips in this video make me want to visit a theater sometime. And the puppets are clearly impressive.
I highly highly suggest people watch the 2016 pro-filming of The Woodsman!!! Another show with phenomenal puppet design and work, also designed and written by James Ortiz. About 90 minutes and stunning on so many levels.
It’s actually 14 people for Kong, there is also an automation operator who is controlling the position of Kong’s body in 3D space. 13:23
The Life of Pi and My Neighbour Totoro puppets are stunning!!
I actually got the chance to see war horse during its run at Lincoln center and I will say the puppetry was absolutely stunning. I just remember how realistic the puppetry was that for a split second it was hard to not see a real horse up on stage.
Into The Woods isn't 40-years-old, at least not yet. It premiered in San Diego in 1987. I was born in 1987. The show is the same age as I am: 36 - soon to be 37 this year.
They made the Turkish delight a character and I love it
Aw I was expecting that one German production with the giant dragon bursting out of the river (it was an outdoor play)
I was lucky to see the king kong puppet live and ket me tell ya it was amazing
shoutouts to the moose from Evil Dead the Musical.
PLEASE Look into the puppetry of Ghibli Totoro from London!! The puppetry is stunning and storytelling is Stellar!
Please do a video on the "wind in the willows musical" ! pretty please?
Into the Woods is my favorite musical and I was apprehensive about Milky White being puppeteered since I'd seen versions where actors playing her felt distracting to me. But I ended up loving the dynamics between her and the puppeteer and the other actors! Not only that, I thought the giantess' shoe puppets were so cool!
I'm surprised Lion King didn't appear on this list, but I might be biased as that was my first introduction to puppets on Broadway.
I just saw that version of Into the Woods where Milky White gets grabbed from the puppeteer and the actor looks so comically offended. There are moments like that throughout the show that couldn't have happened in, let's say, the other version I saw where she is played by an actor just wearing a cowbell. That one had it's own comedy that relied on the fact that she was clearly played by a male actor and is consistantly declared to be a female cow by Jack's mom. Having a puppet Milky White changes a lot of those comedy beats in the show.
I was a volunteer steward at a regional U.K. theatre when war horse did it’s U.K. tour and omg I was so close to Joey when he entered through the audience it took everything in me not to reach out and touch him!