Theatre Review : Carnival of the Animals
This weekend, we gave our oldest son Kieran (3) a real treat. We told him we were going to the theater. “Oooh! The movies!” We tried to explain this was not the movies. It was a “special theater”. We didn’t tell him much more than that. As we drove to Dallas Children’s Theater, he kept talking about the movies. When we arrived, we were quickly greeted by Lisa Schreiner, the Public Relations Manager for Dallas Children’s Theater. Ms. Schreiner assured us that our son would love the show. She was certainly correct.
“The Carnival of the Animals” is a puppet show based on the music of Camille Saint-Saens, produced and presented by the Kathy Burks Theatre of Puppetry Arts. They use several puppetry techniques including rod, humanette, shadow, and body. The main method used in “Carnival of the Animals” is rod puppetry in a “black theater”. This means the theater stage is completely covered in black cloth. The puppeteers are dressed from head to feet in black as well. The rod puppets are then illuminated by overhead lights. This creates a drastic and stand-0ut effect that really showcases the puppets. Because the stage itself is completely dark and the puppeteers can barely see, they have a highly rehearsed and choreographed act that goes off flawlessly.
The show starts with a puppet of the composer asking one of the puppeteers for directions to the theater . At first, our son didn’t seem too excited about all this. He was more interested in sitting next to and talking to his little friend that joined us for the show. However, he quickly gained interest when the puppet composer started explaining his music and the instruments used in it. Each instrument “puppet” was shown on stage and a sample of its music played. Our son was a little bit in awe at first and didn’t quite know what to make of these.
The first major act of the show was The Lion. This featured a 3 part lion (head, tail, legs) that popped up onto the stage. At this point, Kieran was very alert. The music in the background made the lion appear to roar. Next, Cocks and Hens came on. This was a funny little skit of a hen trying to lay an egg while the hopefully proud rooster waited impatiently. The music kept getting more and more intense. I was watching Kieran as much as I watched the show. His eyes were wide with excitement and mirth as he watched the antics. He was really enjoying the show now. At the end of that act, the audience clapped wildly. Kieran got into the excitement and started clapping as well, something he has not been very interested in doing before. As the lion disappeared from the stage, he waited intently for the next act. All thoughts of talking and chatting with his friend were lost. The show progressed with a huge elephant made by a multi-person body puppet, some can-can dancers, an ocean of fish, a pesky little bird that annoyed the composer, and a sleep depriving piano practice that caused the puppet composer a long, restless night.
Needless to say, the show was very entertaining to the entire audience regardless of age. However, I’m sure the young children found this to be the most magical of experiences. During the entire show, I could hear the gasps and giggles of surprised and joyful little kids in the background. Our son was in rapt attention throughout the show. There is no doubt that he is now looking more forward to his next trip to the “special theater” more than to a trip to “the movies”.