Yesterday was one of those wacky days where all of my jobs collided. I had stuff to write, props to shop for and, of course, a show.
Jodi and I were performing as part of The Puppet Playlist, which explores the music of one performer through puppets and cover tunes. Last time it was Tom Waits, this time it was The Magnetic Fields.
Working with the song “How Fucking Romantic,” Jodi keyed off the syncopated snapping and came up with the idea that his character was blind. The snapping became the sound of the cane tapping on the ground. The phrase, “treat me like a dancing bear” caught my attention and we wound up with a love story between a blind man and the world’s cutest bear.
Our portion of the show was only four minutes long, but hard, hard, hard. We’re singing acapella but had to match the tapping to the 5/8 time of the original piece. This meant that any variations in movement were actively wrong.
I am rhythmically challenged.
I have a good kinetic memory, but am absolutely incapable of counting 123, 12345, 123, 12345 and doing anything else. This meant that we had to just drill it so I could get the beat into my body.
Bizarrely, the shows sold out on Thursday and we had a standby list forty people long. They managed to get in about twenty of those folks but had to turn another forty some away. Crazy.
The show went fairly well but the second show went better. The worst thing about doing these quick things is that there’s no time to get into a groove and respond to the audience. That connection between performer and audience is half the show.
There’s a saying, “What’s the difference between a puppet show and playing with dolls?”
“An audience.”
It was nice to have an audience last night. I do miss that immediate feedback with writing.
I didn’t realize you sing as well. I think you’ve got the creative bases pretty well covered!
What an interesting performance — the whole idea, I mean, but also your portion. I love when art combines things not usually combined.
5/8? That’s a difficult one!
I like that “What’s the difference between a puppet show and playing with dolls?” thing. Sometimes I feel like some of the puppeteering I do is reminiscence of my child play.