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April 02, 2013

Photo Essay: Puppets on a Spring, Addendum: Equinox Edition

I usually try not to repeat myself.

At least, not too much.



But when I'd already seen Bob Baker's Something to Crow About marionette show, I still decided to revisit it for Cinefamily's Spring Equinox celebration at the marionette theater, even though I knew some of the musical numbers would be repeated.



Then again, I also knew I'd see some new appearances out of Bob Baker's inventory of over 3000 handmade puppets, like the shooting star who wished upon himself for Spring to come.



I also got a closer look at some of the puppets I was too far away from last time, seated in the back, to see very well - like the sunflowers...



...the horsie...



...the dancing flowers...



...and the tophat-tipping skunk.



Easter Sunday's Spring Equinox show also featured live musical performances by vocal group The Living Sisters, who provided an atmospheric sonic backdrop for some dancing puppets, like the disco divas who sing "Twilight Zone" in the Halloween show...



...and the toe-tapping flappers.

A live trumpeter and coronetist provided the soundtrack to a tartan caped puppet player, as well as to a puppetized sousaphone and a trio of puppet guitars.



I, of course, made eyes at Pierre Rabbit, but he was too busy flirting with the other age-appropriate spectators - this audience being comprised more of the adult / hipster parent variety than of the young schoolchild.

It was nice not to be the oddball lone adult watching the show without a child, trying to recapture a childhood I never had. Sunday night, I heard someone say, "I've never seen anything like this...I guess I've never been to a puppet show..." and I realized I hadn't either. But there's something about the shows, or the music, or the puppets, or the atmosphere, that's incredibly familiar to me - reminiscent of Rankin-Bass stop motion animation TV shows, or animatronic shows at Chuck E. Cheese, decorations on neighbors' lawns and at the North Pole setup at the mall. I find it all comforting and creepy, familiar and strange all at the same time - like childhood itself.

Related Post:
Photo Essay: Puppets on a Spring

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