Reviews
Assorted Reviews from assorted sources
The Magic Forest
The New York Times - “Penny Jones and Co. is a group of puppeteers with the knack for finding lesser known stories and distilling them to suit the tastes of its very young fans. The three brief ones in the current production called “The Magic Forest,” keep the children fascinated with low-key make-believe. In one story, for instance, a magicians assistant turns a boy and girl into a horse and giraffe- and then into a Kleenex box, a lollipop, a hammer and a magnet. The magic word from the audience finally returns them to their original human forms. The small puppets are charming. The 45 minute program never overexcites the audience although there’s lots of time for participation.”
New York Magazine- “An unpretentious puppet play with real warmth and gentleness. Its success with young audiences is due to the charm and honesty of the presentation they feel from first to last “
The Story of the Mistletoe
The Villager- “ Is Kids Theatre AnyGood?
...fortunately things are not uniformly so bleak: Penny Jones, who works with hand and rod puppets, is known for her cuddly animals. Her current show The Story of the Mistletoe, is an engrossing (even for adults) story about the legends surrounding mistletoe, combining myths from Norse sagas with the story of Snow White and Rose Red is only one of her happy ideas. The blending of the familiar and the foreign gives the 45 minute production an especially interesting texture.
The atmosphere created for the audience is cozy, as comfortable as a soft, well-worn calico doll. The children sit on a rug in front of the stage; a music box provides background sound, and set changes are done right before everyone’s eyes. Great care is taken not to frighten the four-to-seven year –old crowd. Jones herself conducts a “warm-up” at the beginning, easing the children gradually from the real world to the world of the play.”
The New York Times- “The hand and rod puppets are winsome, the sets are uncluttered and the story line is direct”
WNYC- “An intimacy, an honesty, a heart, which the slicker ones don’t always possess.”
Mother Goose Tales and More Mother Goose Tales
The Voice- “I like it that such care went into the making of these shows. I was struck by the fullness of detail and the surprising elaborateness of the sets. The three little pigs really looked piggy for a change, with pink, rotund bodies and the right shaped ears and snouts. The show is responsive to the short attention span of young children and uses many different ways of shifting gears to keep them involved. “
New York- “Very simple, and perfect as an introduction to theatre”
Gannet Newspapers – “Warm, funny, direct and charming”
The Brementown Musicians
Westchester Weekend- “Each story is kept short, the plot line clear and simple and the characterizations vivid. The shows are warm, touching and funny, but the humor is never heavy handed. It respects the children’s intelligence.
Peppi and the Pop-Up Dragon
Puppetmaster- “The first showing of this pop-up performance occurred during a fascinating exhibit of pop-up books at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. It was something of a marvel, a book coming to life. This second visit (with the show twice as long) surpassed my first. Church bells swayed as they rang out, a window opened to reveal a mother rocking her baby, doors opened to show local shopkeepers, shutters opened and closed. Then a dragon appeared who wanted all the fish they caught. The townspeople were alarmed. How would they survive? They solved the problem, but you’d have to see this remarkable show to find out how. What a pleasurable experience!”
The Circus and Sebastian
Gannet Newspapers- “An utterly charming and exquisite show. The puppets are glorious. The entire show is played as a puppet pantomime to Kabalevsky’s suite The Comedians.”
WNYC– “Except for some introductory comments, there is no narrative and none is needed. The story and action are perfectly clear even to the pre-schoolers and first and second graders who are enchanted by the imaginative hand and rod puppets and the simple plot. The adults were captivated and nostalgic on their own level, but this sensitive little puppet show with its spritely music (Kabalevsky’s The Comedians; Gliere’s Russian Sailor’s Dance) is first and foremost for the young children. It’s a charmer.”
The New Haven Register- “ There was educational value also, the image study of the Russian Sailor’s Dance for example, told more about at least one facet of music’s inner nature than any lecture alone ever could. This is the kind of cultural exposure that children deserve and need.”
Puppetry Guild of Greater New York- “ The most remarkable part of Penny Jones’s performance is her unusually gifted rapport with children. They like each other and how well it shows”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Penny Jones & Co.
--------“Rated with all the other children’ theatre groups that have performed here in the past few years, on a scale of one to ten, yours definitely merits a ten.” -Public relations director, Wildcliff Museum
---------“The performance provided opportunities for the children to participate verbally. Puppet characters became so real for the children that many wanted to carry on conversations with them. Opportunities were skillfully provided for this purpose by the players. The performance allowed the children to participate physically also. Skillfully placed just before he children got restless, there was a vivid description of children climbing, running, etc., and the children are allowed to move their hands to aid in description. The use of the hands helped the restless children remain in focus and provided an experience in five motor skills. The questions asked helped to stimulate thinking also…” - Director, Marcy Children’s Center
---------“Maybe we can grow up to be a puppeteer when we grow up. And be talented as you. But if we want to be like you we have to be very excellent in things”- Stephanie, 4th grade
---------“When I grow up I want to be a artist just like you. I never saw a better puppet show in my life. I want one of those puppets. Please come again. If you do be sure to bring a spare puppet “-Your friend, Ivan, 2nd grade
----------“The children loved it. My first grade class is a difficult one; however, the children were enjoying the show so much that you could hear a pin drop. I have one child who is a terrible problem. I have never seen him behave so well. We would love it if you could come to our class on a regular basis.” –N.B., Teacher, PS 188
----------“In these few weeks, when you were there in my class making puppets was the most exciting activity I did in the whole school year!“ -Aimee 4th grade
-----------“You were very good at making the puppets. You are the greatest artist in the world. You are very good at making the puppets move” -Sammy, 2nd grade
The Magic Forest
The New York Times - “Penny Jones and Co. is a group of puppeteers with the knack for finding lesser known stories and distilling them to suit the tastes of its very young fans. The three brief ones in the current production called “The Magic Forest,” keep the children fascinated with low-key make-believe. In one story, for instance, a magicians assistant turns a boy and girl into a horse and giraffe- and then into a Kleenex box, a lollipop, a hammer and a magnet. The magic word from the audience finally returns them to their original human forms. The small puppets are charming. The 45 minute program never overexcites the audience although there’s lots of time for participation.”
New York Magazine- “An unpretentious puppet play with real warmth and gentleness. Its success with young audiences is due to the charm and honesty of the presentation they feel from first to last “
The Story of the Mistletoe
The Villager- “ Is Kids Theatre AnyGood?
...fortunately things are not uniformly so bleak: Penny Jones, who works with hand and rod puppets, is known for her cuddly animals. Her current show The Story of the Mistletoe, is an engrossing (even for adults) story about the legends surrounding mistletoe, combining myths from Norse sagas with the story of Snow White and Rose Red is only one of her happy ideas. The blending of the familiar and the foreign gives the 45 minute production an especially interesting texture.
The atmosphere created for the audience is cozy, as comfortable as a soft, well-worn calico doll. The children sit on a rug in front of the stage; a music box provides background sound, and set changes are done right before everyone’s eyes. Great care is taken not to frighten the four-to-seven year –old crowd. Jones herself conducts a “warm-up” at the beginning, easing the children gradually from the real world to the world of the play.”
The New York Times- “The hand and rod puppets are winsome, the sets are uncluttered and the story line is direct”
WNYC- “An intimacy, an honesty, a heart, which the slicker ones don’t always possess.”
Mother Goose Tales and More Mother Goose Tales
The Voice- “I like it that such care went into the making of these shows. I was struck by the fullness of detail and the surprising elaborateness of the sets. The three little pigs really looked piggy for a change, with pink, rotund bodies and the right shaped ears and snouts. The show is responsive to the short attention span of young children and uses many different ways of shifting gears to keep them involved. “
New York- “Very simple, and perfect as an introduction to theatre”
Gannet Newspapers – “Warm, funny, direct and charming”
The Brementown Musicians
Westchester Weekend- “Each story is kept short, the plot line clear and simple and the characterizations vivid. The shows are warm, touching and funny, but the humor is never heavy handed. It respects the children’s intelligence.
Peppi and the Pop-Up Dragon
Puppetmaster- “The first showing of this pop-up performance occurred during a fascinating exhibit of pop-up books at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. It was something of a marvel, a book coming to life. This second visit (with the show twice as long) surpassed my first. Church bells swayed as they rang out, a window opened to reveal a mother rocking her baby, doors opened to show local shopkeepers, shutters opened and closed. Then a dragon appeared who wanted all the fish they caught. The townspeople were alarmed. How would they survive? They solved the problem, but you’d have to see this remarkable show to find out how. What a pleasurable experience!”
The Circus and Sebastian
Gannet Newspapers- “An utterly charming and exquisite show. The puppets are glorious. The entire show is played as a puppet pantomime to Kabalevsky’s suite The Comedians.”
WNYC– “Except for some introductory comments, there is no narrative and none is needed. The story and action are perfectly clear even to the pre-schoolers and first and second graders who are enchanted by the imaginative hand and rod puppets and the simple plot. The adults were captivated and nostalgic on their own level, but this sensitive little puppet show with its spritely music (Kabalevsky’s The Comedians; Gliere’s Russian Sailor’s Dance) is first and foremost for the young children. It’s a charmer.”
The New Haven Register- “ There was educational value also, the image study of the Russian Sailor’s Dance for example, told more about at least one facet of music’s inner nature than any lecture alone ever could. This is the kind of cultural exposure that children deserve and need.”
Puppetry Guild of Greater New York- “ The most remarkable part of Penny Jones’s performance is her unusually gifted rapport with children. They like each other and how well it shows”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Penny Jones & Co.
--------“Rated with all the other children’ theatre groups that have performed here in the past few years, on a scale of one to ten, yours definitely merits a ten.” -Public relations director, Wildcliff Museum
---------“The performance provided opportunities for the children to participate verbally. Puppet characters became so real for the children that many wanted to carry on conversations with them. Opportunities were skillfully provided for this purpose by the players. The performance allowed the children to participate physically also. Skillfully placed just before he children got restless, there was a vivid description of children climbing, running, etc., and the children are allowed to move their hands to aid in description. The use of the hands helped the restless children remain in focus and provided an experience in five motor skills. The questions asked helped to stimulate thinking also…” - Director, Marcy Children’s Center
---------“Maybe we can grow up to be a puppeteer when we grow up. And be talented as you. But if we want to be like you we have to be very excellent in things”- Stephanie, 4th grade
---------“When I grow up I want to be a artist just like you. I never saw a better puppet show in my life. I want one of those puppets. Please come again. If you do be sure to bring a spare puppet “-Your friend, Ivan, 2nd grade
----------“The children loved it. My first grade class is a difficult one; however, the children were enjoying the show so much that you could hear a pin drop. I have one child who is a terrible problem. I have never seen him behave so well. We would love it if you could come to our class on a regular basis.” –N.B., Teacher, PS 188
----------“In these few weeks, when you were there in my class making puppets was the most exciting activity I did in the whole school year!“ -Aimee 4th grade
-----------“You were very good at making the puppets. You are the greatest artist in the world. You are very good at making the puppets move” -Sammy, 2nd grade