Volume 3, No. 8. April 25, 2003
New Arrivals
It’s
a puppet show!
Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim, California, announces the arrival
of “Playhouse Disney—Live On Stage!” April 11, 2003. Measurements:
four casts of one live actor or actress, one bear and five puppeteers manipulating
15 characters, four technicians, 21-minute shows presented six times a day,
and room for an audience of 550 sitting on the floor.
He had seen the show at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, and John Addis knew it
would fit Disneyland Resort’s plans to offer more kid-friendly fare at
its California Adventure park. Then Addis, an entertainment and show director
for Disneyland Resort, was tapped to direct the California edition. The 18-year
Disney veteran had four months to put the show together, including training
raw puppeteers to play some involving characters with television progenitors.
For that, he got valuable help from master puppeteer Jeff Conover who worked
the original show. “Jeff had to take character performers, green unknowns
who had no idea what puppetry was, and transform them into these wonderful puppeteers,”
said Addis, who himself worked for Sesame Street Live with the Henson Corporation
before joining Disney.
Once “Playhouse” was ready, the show ran for a week and a half of
previews, mainly to Disney cast members, a few of whom brought their children.
“The response was great,” Addis said, “But I’ve been waiting
for children.” This, after all, is a show aimed squarely at the preschool
set. Finally, on the eve of the official opening, he got a true test audience,
about two-thirds of which were children. “And the room rocked,” Addis
said. “It’s like a Beatles concert.”
That’s exaggerating only a little, judging from the opening day shows where
impatient children and their barely patient adults formed long lines most of
the day waiting to get in the theater that originated as the ABC Soap Opera
Bistro. Inside, children sat or kneeled on the carpeted floor, but most were
on their feet the moment Bear from the Big Blue House made his entrance. Every
new character who appeared on the stage—from Rolie Polie Olie to Stanley—elicited
pointing fingers, cheers or gasps of wonder that their TV favorites were REALLY
THERE! The children danced all the dances, screamed at the light show, pogo-bounced
when the moon began singing and bounded up to catch bubbles floating down from
the ceiling.
The children get so into the production that the show’s tech crews have
a hard time concentrating, Addis said. “It’s so funny seeing adults
loving a children’s show. Usually the tech crews are the most jaded. However,
with this show, they sit up there and watch these kids and I’m like, ‘Hey,
keep your eye on the stage, stop watching the kids.’”
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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