Children love this place! From the moment they enter the building, they are surrounded by the magic of imagination. If all you did at the Center for Puppetry Arts was tour the World of Puppets Museum and get an up close view of the marvelous Jim Henson puppets, your children would think that they had had a great outing. But that's just the beginning!
You get to watch an exceptional puppet show also! And this is not just some guy sticking his hand out through the curtain with a sock puppet. These are professional full-length productions that usually last about an hour. The theatre has very comfortable tiered rows of seats so everyone has a great view. The large stage is filled with beautiful sets, props and special effects. A wonderful musical score always accompanies the singing and dancing of the puppets and the sound system is perfectly set so that everyone can hear every word and yet it's not too loud for tiny ears.
Each show utilizes different types of puppets such as marionettes, rod puppets, shadow puppets or sometimes even people in costumes! My favorite part of each show is when the puppeteers come on the stage after the show is over to explain how they did it. They show the audience how each puppet was "brought to life" during the show and about any special effects that were used. It's fascinating!
This week, The Sleeping Beauty by National Marionette Theatre, one of the oldest, continuously running marionette theatres in the United States, returns to The Center for Puppetry Arts. My great-niece, Katie, her brother Johnny, and I were invited to see "Sleeping Beauty" when it was here in 2012. The following review is the one I wrote then.
This original adaptation of the beloved fairy tale was told from Prince Stephan's point of view. The hand-carved wooden marionettes were accompanied by the music from Tchaikovsky's ballet. Katie thought the fairy costumes were particularly beautiful and Johnny thought that the dragon was fierce and exciting, but not scary at all. (The "not scary part" was a big relief for him because, in the movie version, he always has to hide his eyes!)
The lights for this show allowed the audience to see the men manipulating the marionettes from above the stage. I was so impressed by the skill of these puppeteers, sometimes simultaneously operating a different marionette in each hand. It was really amazing and it made me wonder how they learned this skill. Well, when they came out after the show, I found out that this is a family business comprised of a father and his two grown sons who started learning their craft from their father as young boys. They write the scripts and handcraft the marionettes, the costumes, and the sets. Please meet them HERE.
So, if all your child did was tour the puppet museum and see the show, it would be a terrific outing.. but there's still more!! Next, you visit the Build-A-Puppet Workshop where your child will make their own special puppet to take home. This is Katie's absolute favorite part of the day! The puppet is always taken from a character in the play. These puppets are simple enough a for a child to construct with a little help and yet the level of cleverness and craftsmanship behind them is impressive. For this play, it was the Wise Owl with strings attached to make the wings move like a marionette.
The tour of this magical museum, a full-length professional puppet production with an educational explanation afterwards and the Build-A-Puppet workshop combine to make this a truly exceptional outing for your family! And all that for just $20.50 makes this an exceptional value also.
See showtimes and purchase tickets HERE. If you have been before, you already know how much your kids will love it. But, if you've never been, Katie and Johnny highly recommend the Center for Puppetry Arts for a day your child will never forget.
