For Bob Baker Marionette Theater, 'Choo Choo Revue' is more than a show. It's a statement - BERITAJA

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater was about to debut its first caller accumulation successful 45 years, and it was uncertain whether 1 of the show’s signature caller puppets would moreover work. A pelican, pinch an oversized bucket-like beak, was successful request of last-minute maintenance.

This gangly bird, designed to hop, skip, soar and singing to Clarence Henry’s mid-’50s hit and blues deed “Ain’t Got No Home,” was expected to astonishment the audience, arsenic its elongated measure is really hiding a frog. Getting the pelican-frog duo to execute successful unison was a feat of mechanical artistry for the team, not to mention the choreography needed by the puppeteer.

And successful the minutes earlier showtime, head Alex Evans was trying to enactment calm. In specified moments, he would opportunity later, he only request punctual himself of an aged adage successful the puppet arts.

“Puppets,” he says, “break each the time.”

With that, he was fresh to clasp the unknown.

“I ever opportunity I emotion the chaos of unrecorded theater,” Evans says. “We sewage to judge successful this thing.”

“Choo Choo Revue,” the latest successful a agelong statement of song-and-dance productions, is arriving astatine a momentous clip for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Just past period the troupe announced its intent to acquisition its venue connected Highland Park’s York Boulevard for $5 million, doing truthful arsenic it was gearing up for performances astatine the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The second went viral, a truth Evans attributes to galore of the first week shows of “Choo Choo Revue” trading out.

An organist plays while group record into the premiere of “Choo Choo Revue” astatine the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

In galore ways, “Choo Choo Revue” is simply a connection piece. Evans, who besides serves arsenic co-executive head pinch Mary Fagot, wants to spot the spotlight connected the theater’s existent harvest of artists, fabricators and collaborators. While the show pays tribute successful galore ways to the theater’s legendary namesake founder, possibly about notably successful its usage of his vintage grounds collection, it’s time, Evans says, for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater’s adjacent procreation to shine.

Evans was instrumental successful the determination to displacement the squad distant from the antecedently announced accumulation of “Arabian Nights,” a task erstwhile spearheaded by Baker, who died successful 2014. Just up of the presence of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the theatre had gone truthful acold arsenic to people an “Arabian Nights” program, and had vanished sets and puppets fresh to go.

“Choo Choo Revue” is the first caller Bob Baker Marionette show since 1981’s “Hooray LA!”

During the forced closure, however, the squad began to rethink its future. “It was a deep-breath clip to do immoderate soul reasoning about who we are and what we want to prioritize,” says Evans, who joined the institution successful 2007 arsenic a unpaid and became a staffer successful 2009.

“The first caller show successful 40 years — america finishing 1 of Bob’s shows would person been profoundly individual and meaningful, but it would person kept the narrative, internally and externally, that this was 1 person’s vision,” Evans says. “‘Choo Choo’ is the culmination of truthful galore different ideas and people. It was purposefully about opening the floodgates, that Bob Baker could beryllium much than conscionable the personification of Bob Baker.”

It wasn’t a judge point the Bob Baker Marionette Theater would moreover scope this milestone. For overmuch of the past decade — since about the decease of the theater’s patriarch — the communicative surrounding the theatre was 1 of survival.

In 2019, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater needed a lifeline. Forced retired of its edge-of-downtown location of much than 55 years, the beloved troupe pinch its thousands of handcrafted puppets — a saucy achromatic feline successful heels, a food retired of h2o that can’t thief but wiggle — ultimately recovered a caller location successful a Highland Park theater, wherever it signed a 10-year lease.

Then came the pandemic, erstwhile the theatre relied heavy connected organization fundraising to screen its rent. California, and Hollywood successful particular, has a rich | puppetry tradition. Bob Baker Marionette Theater likes to mention to itself arsenic the largest ongoing puppet theatre successful the U.S. The oldest puppet abstraction successful the state resides up northbound successful Oakland astatine amusement parkland Children’s Fairyland. And successful 2020, Bob Baker recovered it had galore fans, asking astatine 1 constituent to raise $365,000 complete the people of a year. It did truthful successful 4 weeks.

Old favorites, including the theater’s famed achromatic feline marionette, make appearances successful “Choo Choo Revue.”

But it was the agelong process of buying its home, namely the belief that it would beryllium successful Highland Park to stay, that gave the institution the assurance that it could spell guardant pinch a caller show. The evident question, of course, is why it took 40 years for a wholly caller Bob Baker experience. Evans gives a agelong answer, pointing to galore hurdles, beryllium it the displacement successful locations, the costs of preserving its historical puppets and collection, arsenic good arsenic conscionable managing priorities.

“It’s not needfully a financial hurdle,” Evans says, noting “Choo Choo Revue” costs $300,000, pinch about half of that sum dedicated to the creation of caller puppets and scenery.

“I deliberation it was much about priorities,” Evans says. “Like, do we get the unit healthcare first, aliases do we do a caller show first? So we sewage the unit healthcare. Or do we springiness the shape amended lighting.”

As for really and why the squad settled connected “Choo Choo Revue” arsenic its first accumulation since 1981’s “Hooray LA!,” Evans says not to overthink it.

“It made maine giggle,” he says. “It was a jumping disconnected constituent to imagination. ‘Choo Choo Revue,’ by sanction itself, I thought to giggle.”

The show is simply a fantastical practice of a cross-country train trip, filled pinch adorable puppet trains.

A meticulously elaborate log pinch windows, for instance, aliases a car that seems to equilibrium natural, mountainous wonders connected its back. They’re colorful playthings, astatine slightest until the inheritance scenery starts depicting various locomotive styles. Puppeteers will whisk train cars retired into the open, each often lodging a fantastical animal — a moose, for instance, who takes a break from knitting to prance about to a rendition of the on-theme accepted blues ditty “Midnight Special.”

Behind it each are tens of thousands of hours of handcrafted proficiency. Each caller puppet is simply a activity of art. Take, for instance, a swarm of bats that seemed to glow successful the acheronian (the creatures, created for “Choo Choo Revue,” made their debut during past year’s Halloween season).

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater created much than 100 caller puppets for “Choo Choo Revue,” including a pelican hiding a frog successful its beak.

Or an intricately elaborate cicada band. They’re each playing mini instruments — 1 a half-open sardine can, different a stringed matchbook. Their wings merit a adjacent inspection, arsenic the translucent curved fixtures are inspired by stained solid windows. There are trees that ski, and train whistles pinch large lips and precocious heels, modeled aft harmony group the Andrews Sisters. Wait till the second toot disconnected their tops, arsenic each of the 100 caller puppets is afloat of surprises.

“We get a bunch of different artists together, and we each brainstorm,” Evans says of the creation process. “Like, ‘Let’s each deliberation for a 2nd about anthropomorphizing trains.’ We did a bid of sketches and showed them to each other. I honestly about apt person a 1000 different fascinating ideas for train movement.”

On opening night, the crowd claps on to the numbers, cheering pinch delight astatine each caller portion of whimsy that rolls aliases soars onto the floor-level stage. And arsenic for the showstopping pelican, the frog erupts retired of its beak correct connected cue, a infinitesimal that so inspires a information of laughter and childlike awe.

As the imaginary train whisks the puppets about the country, the show manages to build anticipation conscionable by making the crowd wonderment what comes next. Say, for instance, a fluffy Sasquatch, aliases a crooner of a satellite successful pajamas singing an old-timey lullaby to each the small ones seated cross-legged connected the floor.

Puppeteer Ginger Duncan twirls a marionette named Comedy.

Much of “Choo Choo Revue,” for illustration the yawning, serenading moon, is rooted successful the euphony of the past. That was a determination made to guarantee the show feels successful statement pinch earlier Bob Baker works. Yet Evans says the squad is emboldend aft Coachella to commencement tackling much modern songs astatine its Highland Park headquarters. The crowd astatine the Indio festival, for instance, went chaotic for the puppets swooning to Ben Platt’s screen of Addison Rae’s deed tune “Diet Pepsi.”

“Honestly, if we had done Coachella past year, it would person pushed ‘Choo Choo’ further,” he says, noting he initially feared popular euphony could distract. “I didn’t deliberation it could activity successful a measurement that wouldn’t propulsion you retired of the show.”

And yet Evans doesn’t want to get up of himself. He about teared up astatine the extremity of the “Choo Choo Revue” premiere, saying the pursuing day that seeing this show travel together aft aggregate years was 2nd only to his 2025 wedding successful position of creating an “overwhelming emotion of pride, emotion and care.”

“Choo Choo Revue” culminates successful a look toward the future. That’s erstwhile a sleek, silver, oversized high-speed slug train arrives connected the scene.

It could beryllium publication arsenic a metaphor.

While the nonprofit is still seeking philanthropist thief — astatine the premiere, Fagot said the institution now has secured $4.7 cardinal toward its $5 cardinal extremity of buying the theatre and it besides hopes to raise an further $2 cardinal for building upgrades — its early is much unafraid than it has been astatine immoderate clip complete the past decade.

At agelong last, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater could relax and look toward caller horizons.

Evans, for instance, can’t thief himself excitedly tease a imaginable adjacent Bob Baker show. He says doubly successful the question and reply that the Olympics are connected the troupe’s mind.

“We’ve sewage 2 years,” he says. And now the imperishable location to location it.