Puppet Up!

Last night Dana and I went to see Puppet Up!, an improvisational comedy show featuring the Jim Henson Company's puppets and crew. I went in with high expectations and really enjoyed the show. If you're in Sydney this week, try to make it over to the State Theatre on Market Street for a good laugh. Keep in mind, it's improv so the jokes can get a bit crass. This is not a kid's show. That being said, the host did move things along very well and swapped out the scenes when the toilet humour started. I haven't seen much live improv, but I used to perform in come improv shows in college. It's tough work.

Puppet improv? Huh? Yeah it sounds odd but it really added to the comedy. It helps that the puppets themselves are often very funny-looking, such as the pug and the hot dogs, and that the puppeteers have excellent vocal skills. The characters they created could easily have been on the Muppet Show... as long as it aired after 11PM. So this is how it worked: There were two large screens at the back of the stage, and the puppeteers had their guys up above them in front of the camera. So you could watch the TV screens or the stage itself. This unique set-up was highly entertaining.

Puppet Up! had a number of inventive and interesting ways to keep things fresh. The most hilarious one may have been when they asked a volunteer from the audience to come on stage and try to man one of the puppets. That puppet was all over the place - arms shooting up, mouth agape and bobbing in and out of the frame of the video.

Yes I'm a softie when it comes to puppets. I just think their fantastic. Avenue Q is the best show I saw on Broadway. And nothing quite cheers me up as much as Mahna Mahna!

If you saw Puppet Up! here in Sydney, at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta, in Edinburgh, or in Aspen... or anywhere else, I'd love to know what you thought. Drop a line! Mahna Mahna!