[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Puppet Up! – Uncensored – a night of outrageous, off-the-cuff comedy featuring 80 of the MISKREANT puppets brought to life by a cast of world-class comedian puppeteers from The Jim Henson Company at The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre.
I grew up with The Muppets, my kids with Sesame Street and we watch the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth on rotation and now my granddaughter is in on our little puppet cult. So I was pretty thrilled to find out about Puppet Up! – Uncensored” at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood. I’m also a huge improv nerd, and this show is basically puppet improv on steroids.
I was hoping for hilarity, but what I got was absolute bliss!
I should tell you right away that Puppet Up! – Uncensored is not your grandma’s Sesame Street. Nor is it the Muppets. It sits somewhere between parody and satire, improv and the mystical magic of puppetry, liberally awash with the creativity of puppeteers with decades of performances behind them and absolutely insane vocal talents. It is unique. Funny in the way that makes it hard to breathe.
The genius Brian Henson, son of the beloved Jim Henson, is not only the creative force behind the show, but he also takes part in it as a superb puppeteer. Bringing a delicious symmetry to this perfect production. It is directed by Brian Bristow, who also directed Curb Your Enthusiasm and Who’s Line is it Anyway, so perhaps you are beginning to understand the all-around level of excellence this show enjoys.
The puppeteers are also a myriad of talent and camaraderie. These performers have worked together many times over the years. They have an innate sense of connection. That kind of magic can only come from tried and tested repartee and a mythologically phenomenal sense of group storytelling.
Really excellent improv is rare and very hard to do. The puppets make it even harder. These incredible artists have to think in nanoseconds and move in quiet sequence with each other. Grabbing puppets from the stage display, their brains computing places and reasons and the beginnings of storylines shouted out randomly from the ecstatic audience and somewhat curated by the always brilliant Patrick Bristow as the host.
The result of all this wonder is an utterly unmissable show. Funny, heartfelt, topical, slightly dangerous and in parts strangely moving. This is non-stop energy and faultless comedy. One after another, the puppets perform and the puppeteers dazzle with their fantastic, seemingly effortless imaginations and their unbreakable bond.
What more is there to say other than you just have to see this show!!! These are dark days we are living through. Harrowing even. We need to be kind to each other and ourselves, and I can promise you that for a couple of hours, at the gorgeous and iconic Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood, you will laugh all the chaos into silence and oblivion.
Where:
The Montalban Theatre
1615 Vine St, Hollywood
When:
February 20-March 1
Tickets:
https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/puppetup/2525?productionidlist=235738
The Team:
Grant Baciocco, Raymond Carr, Peggy Etra, Donna Kimball, Ted Michaels, Colleen Smith.
Musical Direction by Willie Etra.