Audrey II Named Grand Marshall of Greenwich Village Parade

Buck-Beaver

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Wow, been in Times Square just an hour or so and it's like puppet central! Little Shop & Avenue Q everywhere! Here's an article I found in Playbill:

Little Shop's Audrey II Named Grand Marshall of Greenwich Village Halloween Parade

By Robert Simonson

Greenwich Village's famed annual Halloween Parade, known for its large and fearsome puppets, has nabbed what is arguably Manhattan's most famous and terrifying puppet for its Grand Marshal.

None other than Audrey II, the oversized flytrap that nightly eats much of the cast of the Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, will preside of the annual event, which begins at 7 PM Oct. 31 between Spring and Broome streets and proceeds north to 23rd Street. The vicious vegetable apparently has some pull—the parade has never before named a Grand Marshal.

For the puppet's view on the proceedings, "color commentary" on the parade will be furnished by Kate Monster, one of the cloth stars of Broadway's Avenue Q, and a guest talking head on NY1.

The parade is open to all New Yorkers in costume. This year's parade features approximately 25,000 costumed participants, as well as giant masks and puppets, 38 marching bands from around the world, stilt-walkers, jugglers, break dancers and other street performers.

The celebration was founded three decades ago by veteran puppeteer Ralph Lee.

The Broadway premiere of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's one-time Off-Broadway smash Little Shop of Horrors opened at the Virginia Theatre on Oct. 2. The production, directed by Jerry Zaks with choreography by Kathleen Marshall, stars Hunter Foster as the down-on his-luck, plant-shop worker Seymour and Kerry Butler as Audrey, the ditzy, but pure-hearted woman of his dreams. The show began previews Aug. 29.

Audrey II grows throughout the course of the evening, eventually taking up much of the stage with its roots, tentacles and ravenous maw.


*The article is online with a photo from the show at http://www.playbill.com/news/article/82140.html
 

Fozzie Bear

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I think it's cool that puppets are on Broadway. Maybe this will start a trend of seeing puppetry as performance art and not birthday party fodder.
 

Buck-Beaver

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Puppets have actually been on Broadway (and especially off-Broadway) a lot over the years, I think it's just that everytime a "wave" like this happens the press starts to make a big deal of it.

Not going to complain about it though...
 

Puppetplanet

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Hey buck!

Post some of your photos on teh Bear Town site and put a link here for us to see if ya can! That sounds so awsome!
 

Buck-Beaver

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Sorry, I won't be in NYC for the parade :cry: but I wish I was. Is anyone else here going? It's supposed to be awesome...
 
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