puppets
Bread and puppet
Take a look at this really silly advertisement for Noble Rise breads. I mean, why would you bother, when he is so obviously satisfied with a puppet? ;-p
(The clip only worked in IE for me)
Look what I found…
Two video clips at YouTube of that cool puppet in Berlin that I blogged about in October!
Still no clue as to who the performer group is.
Sesame Street is deployed
I’ve never been able to stomach the sentimental side of the Muppets. That, and the inevitable connection with the madness that is the Iraq war, and its release coinciding with the 3000th US military death there, makes me feel pretty down on the Sesame Street production When Parents Are Deployed, despite understanding that it is designed to help families deal with the anxiety of separation and deployment.
There is a constant unspoken shadow – ‘so what if Elmo’s dad doesn’t come back?’. The makers acknowledge that a parent being injured or killed is undoubtedly the biggest fear of military children, but say it was unaddressed ‘because grief brought with it issues entirelydifferent from absence and would change the show’s focus.’ They add they are ‘open to doing another special where this issue is addressed, provided funding could be secured’.
I think we should instead teach people not to participate in war.
Puppet Up! – Uncensored in Australia
Puppet Up! – Uncensored is coming to Australia late in the summer, first to the Big Laugh Comedy Festival in Sydney in March, and then the Melbourne Comedy Festival in April. I’ve just been watching the video clip and it looks like it could be a lot of fun. The Age recently had a short interview about the show with Susan Provan, the director of the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience: new slideshow
(Photo credit: Craig Sillitoe)
Today’s online Sydney Morning Herald has a slideshow of new photos by Craig Sillitoe about the making of Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience with a narration by their Head of Creature Design, Sonny Tilders.
Previously: Workshop footage, Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience
Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience: Workshop footage
Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience (see previous post) has released two videos of their awesome dinosaur puppetry:
Footage from the workshop
Torosaur v. Utahraptor
And here are a couple of stills from their newsletter.
Steg
in the workshop. if you want an idea of HOW BIG this shows going to be, check out the size of the person working on the BABY brachi in the background (seen through Steg’s legs) … remember, he’s the BABY!
Ankylosaurus in the workshop. To the right you can see one of the utahraptors in the making. There are two now in their final makeover stage and will be ready to wreak havoc with our first utahraptor who was one of the stars or the walking with dinosaurs launch, facing off with Torosaurus. (You can see someone behind the dino’s head, as an indication of scale)
I can see how you would come to call them affectionate things like baby Brachi and Steg if you were working on the build. I dare say they would have come in for a lot of swearing too! With only about five weeks till the first show in Sydney the makers must be under a lot of pressure.
Duck walks into a Bar
I also received a note about Duck walks into a Bar, a ‘bar-hopping, Muppet-style character who likes to troll bars in search of babes, booze and free drinks’, created by Kevin Susman & James Murray. It’s not particularly my taste, but the puppetry, character and video production are slick, so take a look.
Finding Nemo: the Musical
Brian Kolm sent me a note a few weeks ago about Finding Nemo: the Musical, a new musical stage show at
Disney’s Animal Kingdom. (Thanks, Brian!). If you page down you can see photos of some of the large puppets, which seem impressive.
‘Principal characters such as Marlin, Nemo and Dory will be represented by live performers operating animated puppets. Some puppets are larger-than-life — such as Crush, the cool sea turtle, who is nearly the size of a Volkswagen, and Nigel the pelican, who stands 22 feet tall.
Other characters will be portrayed by a diverse array of puppetry styles, including rod, Bunraku and shadow. Tap dancing sharks, puppets riding bicycles, and a punk rock routine by Bruce the shark create theatrical magic and fun throughout the big blue world.‘
The Laughing Place has a couple of extra pictures in their two-page gallery.
The puppets have been designed by Michael Curry, who was the co-designer for The Lion King. The production opens officially in January 2007, but meanwhile preview shows have begun, and you can read a few reactions here.
