Seussical

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Time for more stories from the fantastic world of BobThePizzaBoy's high school theater life...

My school is doing Seussical as the fall production (just found a few hours ago) and looking into the show: I've realized that the production can be done with certain characters being puppets. Before I ask the director about this, I wanted to see if anyone here on MC who knows the show pretty well is willing to give information on which characters could be used as puppets within the show.

 

[Jinx]

Well, depending on the director's concept of the show, probably any of the characters but JoJo could be a puppet! There is an awful lot of flexibility within the show, presentationally.

A friend of mine was in the original Broadway company, and as I recall the only puppet in that one was the small kangaroo on Sour Kangaroo's hand, that she held in open view and did not manipulate particularly well. Really it was more a visual accent than anything else.

Your best bet would be to get a perusal copy of the script, read it thoroughly, put it aside for a few days, read it thoroughly again and see which characters suggest puppetry to you. Then you'd have an original idea to pitch to your director, which is far more valuable than ideas pitched from others.

That's not to say that others won't have good, and even usable ideas, but the ideas born of your own creativity are much more likely to come to satisfying fruition for your situation.

Good luck and HAVE FUN!

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

A friend of mine was in the original Broadway company, and as I recall the only puppet in that one was the small kangaroo on Sour Kangaroo's hand, that she held in open view and did not manipulate particularly well. Really it was more a visual accent than anything else.

Hmmm, I got a crazy idea: since in some productions the small kangaroo is played by a younger human actor [something the director of this production seems to be considering, does anyone think the idea of having an on-stage puppeteer walking around the stage crouched down [to be in scale] when the small kangaroo has lines would be a good idea or come off to the audience as amateurish?

 

[davidmartiste]

Hmmm, I got a crazy idea: since in some productions the small kangaroo is played by a younger human actor [something the director of this production seems to be considering, does anyone think the idea of having an on-stage puppeteer walking around the stage crouched down [to be in scale] when the small kangaroo has lines would be a good idea or come off to the audience as amateurish?

I worked with a theater company that did a production of Seussical. Sour Kanagaroo and 'daughter' both had to sing, to my recollection, and really well too. It doesn't seem like the kind of part that would suit just being a puppet. In my opinion, the magic of Seussical is seeing live actors embody the storybook characters. They can give the parts a movement, depth and emotion that can not be expressed by a puppet alone. It could be tough swaying a director, who has a specific vision, to include your ideas but certainly worth a try ...ie: "could you use any puppeteering for this show?" One thing I have always found limiting in theater is the lack of room for more than one 'vision' at a time and have found that, eventually, I just had to strike out on my own to create something personally creatively fulfilling. I've always admired your passion and hope one day we can work together. Your Axtell bird act at your talent show was wonderfully done.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

I worked with a theater company that did a production of Seussical. Sour Kanagaroo and 'daughter' both had to sing, to my recollection, and really well too. It doesn't seem like the kind of part that would suit just being a puppet. In my opinion, the magic of Seussical is seeing live actors embody the storybook characters. They can give the parts a movement, depth and emotion that can not be expressed by a puppet alone. It could be tough swaying a director, who has a specific vision, to include your ideas but certainly worth a try ...ie: "could you use any puppeteering for this show?" One thing I have always found limiting in theater is the lack of room for more than one 'vision' at a time and have found that, eventually, I just had to strike out on my own to create something personally creatively fulfilling. I've always admired your passion and hope one day we can work together. Your Axtell bird act at your talent show was wonderfully done.

I definitely agree with everything you've said. But for me, perhaps it's my age, but I've found it hard to difficult to create my own projects with puppetry mostly due to the lack of opportunity outside of talent shows (I'm unaware of any puppet companies in the west side of Westchester, my puppetry club ended up being a huge dud and I think the school board is cutting it next year with a bunch of other clubs due to budget cuts, etc.) and have often found that if I want to accomplish some puppetry-related endeavor that'll look nice on my resume, I've had to use other people's productions (that includes this upcoming production, the HS production of Little Shop a few months ago, even the talent shows are run by somebody). And as for the human actor over puppet situation - yes, very much so. But if you'd ask for my opinion, a puppet modeled after Seuss illustrations (in this case, though, I would only say smaller in size supporting/minor characters like this kangaroo for instance, any of the leads being puppets would probably be awkward) would help the tone of the show. But that's another debate for another time.

 

[Oscarfan]

I just did Seussical a couple of months ago and we had a puppet of the Joey(albeit a shoddy, not-mouth-moving one; made from a poodle doll). The only puppet I can really see being used in the show is the Elephant-Bird at the end.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

I just did Seussical a couple of months ago and we had a puppet of the Joey(albeit a shoddy, not-mouth-moving one; made from a poodle doll). The only puppet I can really see being used in the show is the Elephant-Bird at the end.

Can I ask how the Joey puppet was handled in your production [e.g. who and how was it puppeteered]? And the Elephant-Bird? Not a bad idea. Pretty small role that might be hard to be filled by a middle school-aged kid and a puppet would surely be better than a stuffed animal. I'll have to remember that! Thanks, Oscarfan!

 

[Jinx]

Sounds like some really nice ideas floating around here. just one thing to remember; if using a puppet does not match and match well with what the director wants, it's going to come off as contrived, no matter how well-conceived the idea is.

It certainly can be frustrating to wait for opportunities to do shows with puppets, but it's better to wait than to shoe-horn them into a show.

I personally had to wait 12 years for the opportunity to do Little Shop. Long and painful? Sure! Worth the wait? Sadly no.. it wasn't a great production. I had to wait another seven years to do it right. That one was worth the wait!

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Sounds like some really nice ideas floating around here. just one thing to remember; if using a puppet does not match and match well with what the director wants, it's going to come off as contrived, no matter how well-conceived the idea is.

Yeah, I'm really not going to petition and bombard my director with the request to get those puppets into the show. She knows me well enough at this point that I can just mention it in passing and hope she can think of a solution. I like the ideas here, but I'm not gonna be depressed if they don't happen.

 

[Oscarfan]

Can I ask how the Joey puppet was handled in your production [e.g. who and how was it puppeteered]? And the Elephant-Bird? Not a bad idea. Pretty small role that might be hard to be filled by a middle school-aged kid and a puppet would surely be better than a stuffed animal. I'll have to remember that! Thanks, Oscarfan!

The Joey was performed by the Sour Kanagroo holding on one of her hands and just nodding its head to simulate singing.