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Backstage at Carousel Dinner Theater

When I first Moved to New York in 1999 I designed and built 4 giant Christmas Tree body puppets for the Carousel Dinner Theater's "Christmas Extravaganza." The theater is in Akron, Ohio, but the director who hired me was in NYC. Having usually worked with rod puppets or marionettes, this was my first experience building body puppets...and my last! :)

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Comment by Dave Showler on May 28, 2010 at 10:19am: Body Puppets!! ...I only did it once to.

Comment by FisticuffDC on May 28, 2010 at 11:48am: My dad worked there quite a bit when I was growing up, but I don't believe he did this show.

Comment by Steven Shipman on May 28, 2010 at 6:45pm: I'll tell ya what, those dancers who had to wear the puppets were real troupers! My hat's off to them! They were so nice and worked so hard on their 1 hour crash puppetry course, and those darn puppets were SO HEAVY, despite every effort I made to get them as light as possible (the director wanted them to be of quilted satin and I couldn't talk him out of it.)

Comment by Eric Anthony Smith on May 29, 2010 at 3:47pm: LAST ? Look at google images- julie Taymor- see how easy she makes body puppets-.....try again....

Comment by Steven Shipman on May 31, 2010 at 7:06am: I forgot, I DID do another body puppet that was more successful, years before in the late 80's. When I had my own puppet company, Sunflower Puppets, I did a show called "Baba Yaga the Witch." When her house on chicken legs appears, I had a costume puppet of it come clucking through the audience and disappear behind the puppet stage. It was very effective. The audience loved it. But overall, I don't care as much for body puppets unless they serve a specific purpose in a show. Given the right situation, however, they can be absolutely wonderful. I adored The Lion King when I saw it on broadway. :)

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