The Company of ‘Puppet Up! — Uncensored. (Photo courtesy of The Jim Henson Company and Puppet Up!)
Reviewed by Steven Vargas
Center Theatre Group/Jim Henson Company at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
Through July 27
RECOMMENDED
“You missed a scene,” Brian Henson tells host Patrick Bristow, peeking out from backstage.
Bristow looks at his clipboard and quickly switches the route of the show by introducing the nearly forgotten scene in hopes that no one notices. He improvises. The cast takes it as their cue to turn the snafu into their next comedic segment. A cast member shouts from across the stage, “You missed a scene.” Bristow recovers. Then, Bill Barretta peels himself away from the cast and walks to Bristow, whispering into his ear and right into his mic, “Hey, I think you forgot a scene.”
Bristow concedes, joking, “I’m getting fired.”
Puppet Up! — Uncensored synthesizes improv with puppetry for a two-hour performance filled with humorous antics and a mesmerizing display of a puppet’s mechanics. At its core, it is an improv show, so every performance is different from the next. The one constant, however, is the show’s structure, built on suggestions from the audience, which the puppet artists quickly craft into a scenario right before your eyes. The team also features specific elements, including a couple of scenes with Henson (the creator of Puppet Up!) and prompts for audience members to participate. There is a camera at the center, showing their creation on two large screens on either side of the stage, but the real magic is happening underneath the camera, where puppeteers are laser-focused on the technique of turning puppets into new characters. Puppet Up! — Uncensored delivers entertainment in all forms, whether you’re there for a laugh or an educational experience.
Henson is the child of Jim and Jane Henson, the co-founders of the Muppets. He sets the stage by telling their love story and innovation with puppets. His addition to the family legacy: raunchy puppets. Puppet Up! — Uncensored is one of the few places you will see bright puppets curse at each other and perform fellatio on each other. What makes these acts so humorous, rather than salacious, is the dissonance between the playful puppets and their acts. The puppeteers — Barretta, Kathryn Chinn Molloy, Stoph Cheer, Peggy Etra, Dan Garza, Grant Baciocco and Ted Michaels — walk that line with ease.
Performers Scheer and Chinn Molloy are particularly quick on their feet, delivering the right quip at the right time. As two overly agreeable puppets order food at the Ikea cafeteria, the newly appointed waiter (Scheer) cuts in to keep the scene going with a retort, saying, “I don’t need your life story.” Similarly, Molloy breaks the fourth wall with her overly agreeable puppet.
“Can you tell me your secret to being happy?” Scheer asks.
“Denial,” Molloy says without skipping a beat.
Puppet Up! additionally honors the legacy of these quippy and inappropriate puppets by restaging two of Jim and Jane Henson’s performances. In “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face,” one sultry puppet sings over the track while a floating head sits next to her. When the head eats its mask to reveal a scary reality, the singing puppet starts erratically pushing it away. The song continues softly with its yearning-filled lyrics, juxtaposing the panic.
The show perfectly encapsulates the comedic possibilities of puppetry, highlighting the dissonance between its subject matter and its aesthetics. As that dissonance grows greater, the comedy grows greater. Continuing to implement classic elements of improv (including the rule of threes and “yes, and,”) Puppet Up! turns the Kirk Douglas stage into a playground for experimentation.
Henson provides a crash course in the technical side of puppetry through a new skit, fashioned with an audience member who’s been called to the stage. He coaches the newbie with a crab puppet, calling out when he makes a mistake — including moving the puppet’s mouth out-of-sync with his voice and forgetting to keep his head out of the camera frame. Puppetry is a complex craft, and underneath all the laughs, Henson ensures that the art form gets its recognition by having a non-artist participate.
For their final sequence, the cast re-performs the theme song of Puppet Up!, but without any puppets. This is, as they call it, naked puppetry, and pays homage to the talent behind the puppets. It’s poignant to witness the details of the puppeteers’ hands — the knuckles, painted nails and wrinkles. Puppet Up! — Uncensored displays the magic of puppetry, from inside the puppet and out.
The Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Wed.-Sat., 8 pm, Sat., 4 pm, Sun., 1 pm and 7 pm; thru July 27. https://www.centertheatregroup.org/shows-tickets/douglas/202526/puppet-up/Running time: two hours with one ten-minute intermission.
