PUPPET SHOWS
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
A puppet ballet set to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice score by Dukas, is about a boy who starts something he cannot stop when he tries magic instead of muscle - as originally instructed. When the water rises he is overwhelmed with oysters, sword fish, jelly fish, shark, sea horse, octopus and giant whale, all swimming exuberantly until the Sorcerer arrives to set things right.
with “THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE,” (with music by Françaix), tells the story of a fisherman and his wife who find they miss their frugal, simple life after the genie grants their wishes for wealth and power.
“Two sweet little stories using hand puppets, rod puppets, music and imaginative props ” – New York Parent
“Inventive, charming and warm...” - Westchester Weekend
with “THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE,” (with music by Françaix), tells the story of a fisherman and his wife who find they miss their frugal, simple life after the genie grants their wishes for wealth and power.
“Two sweet little stories using hand puppets, rod puppets, music and imaginative props ” – New York Parent
“Inventive, charming and warm...” - Westchester Weekend
Peppi and the Pop-Up Dragon
A puppet show inside a giant 12-foot pop-up book with the audience creating the sound effects.
The sun rises and sets over a happy fishing village with bells that ring, babies that are rocked and boats that go out to sea. But the town is threatened by the pop-up dragon from the Blue Mountain. How will Peppi save the day?
“ The townspeople were alarmed. How would they survive? (talk about problem solving and cooperation!) They solved the problem,but you’d have to see this remarkable show to find out how.What a pleasurable experience. All I heard after this performance was “How charming!”
-Puppet Master, Puppetry Guild of Greater New York
Performed at the Henson International Festival at the Public Theater
“It succinctly reminded me of what a wealth of resources we have in children’s theatre….charming”
-Puppeteers of America Puppetry Journal
The sun rises and sets over a happy fishing village with bells that ring, babies that are rocked and boats that go out to sea. But the town is threatened by the pop-up dragon from the Blue Mountain. How will Peppi save the day?
“ The townspeople were alarmed. How would they survive? (talk about problem solving and cooperation!) They solved the problem,but you’d have to see this remarkable show to find out how.What a pleasurable experience. All I heard after this performance was “How charming!”
-Puppet Master, Puppetry Guild of Greater New York
Performed at the Henson International Festival at the Public Theater
“It succinctly reminded me of what a wealth of resources we have in children’s theatre….charming”
-Puppeteers of America Puppetry Journal
The Circus and Sebastian
A puppet ballet concieved and choreographed by Penny Jones to the rollicking music of Kabalevsky’s symphonic suite, The Comedians. The puppets look like giant Christmas toys come to life with The Nutcracker man as circus master.Sebastian, a park attendant, yearns for a job with the Circus. But when he gets one, the lion roars at him, the horse throws him, the elephant sits on him and the ballerina snubs him. He is fired and despairs until a circus dog teaches him the art of tightrope waking. At last a star, he has the most wonderful dream ever: What music looks like. Watching big and little sounds dance by in different shapes and colors until he too is drawn finally into the happy whirling climax of this colorful fantasy.
“An utterly charming and exquisite show. The puppets are glorious” -Gannet Newspapers
“Delightful ” – New York “It’s a charmer” - WNYC
“An utterly charming and exquisite show. The puppets are glorious” -Gannet Newspapers
“Delightful ” – New York “It’s a charmer” - WNYC
The Magic Forest
Fun and funny things happen as a litterbug witch, two children, a goat, a ghost, a fox and assorted magicians mingle in and near the forest
Every child helps with the magic ingredients. The magical result is the creation of Spring -with a lot of help from the audience.
“A knack for finding lesser known stories and distilling them to suit the tastes of the very young fans and keep them fascinated with low-key make-believe..The puppets are charming, the 45 min. program never overexcites the audience,
although there’s lots of time for participation.” -The New York Times
“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.” -New York
Every child helps with the magic ingredients. The magical result is the creation of Spring -with a lot of help from the audience.
“A knack for finding lesser known stories and distilling them to suit the tastes of the very young fans and keep them fascinated with low-key make-believe..The puppets are charming, the 45 min. program never overexcites the audience,
although there’s lots of time for participation.” -The New York Times
“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.” -New York
Mother Goose Tales
Classic Tales and Fables. A production which includes The Three Bears,The Three Bill Goats Gruff, Little Red Riding Hood and is an excellent introduction to the theatre for very young children. With lots of participation, fun and games, and Mother Goose Rhymes. A hit for generations. Stage managed by Mother Goose's dog Toby.
“Very simple, and perfect as an introduction to theatre.” -New York
“Warm, funny, direct and charming.” -Gannet Newspapers
“Very simple, and perfect as an introduction to theatre.” -New York
“Warm, funny, direct and charming.” -Gannet Newspapers
More Mother Goose Tales
Toby returns with more fun for the very young and more tales including Three Little Pigs and the story of Boswell, the Polar Bear (who happens to drift south on his iceberg to chance upon friendly southern animals before he is blown back to the North Pole).
“I like it that such care went into the making of these shows.I was struck by the fullness of detail and the suprising 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.” -Village Voice
“Warm, friendly atmosphere for the beguiling presentation.”
-Gannet Newspapers
“I like it that such care went into the making of these shows.I was struck by the fullness of detail and the suprising 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.” -Village Voice
“Warm, friendly atmosphere for the beguiling presentation.”
-Gannet Newspapers
Toby's Silly Tales
Toby presents his favorite stories. The Three Sillies, Chicken Little and The Brementown Musicians .The classic Grimms’ fairy tale about four old unwanted animals. On their way to Bremen to become musicians they discover a robbers’ hideout. With the help of the audience, their assorted animal noises scare the robbers out, thus leaving the four friends with a new home filled with food and money.
A “walk-with-your-hands” game over the hills to a boat ride through an imaginary robbers’ cave and back is included in the audience participation activity.
“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.”
-Westchester Weekend
A “walk-with-your-hands” game over the hills to a boat ride through an imaginary robbers’ cave and back is included in the audience participation activity.
“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.”
-Westchester Weekend
The Story of the Mistletoe
A Viking Winter Solstice legend telling how the Sun god is saved from the evil intentions of a jealous dwarf, and how mistletoe becomes a symbol of healing love for all mankind.It is coupled with the well known story of Snow White and Rose Red.“ The Norse legend of the peacemaking property of mistletoe is told by an owl and acted by a bear and Viking puppet. The trees of the forest join in, too. ---
Penny Jones’s puppets are cuddly and tender folk the right kind of friends for little people to meet when first they come to the theatre.”-New York
“Hand and rod puppets are winsome, the sets are uncluttered and the story line is direct. ”
-The New York Times
“An intimacy, an honesty, a heart…” -WNYC
Penny Jones’s puppets are cuddly and tender folk the right kind of friends for little people to meet when first they come to the theatre.”-New York
“Hand and rod puppets are winsome, the sets are uncluttered and the story line is direct. ”
-The New York Times
“An intimacy, an honesty, a heart…” -WNYC
SMALLER SHOWS
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Cinderella
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Cinderella starts with a craft workshop where everyone decorates dancers that are revealed later in the show when Cinderella gets to the Prince's Ball. Great for older kids.
Can be done with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and more.
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Table-Top Shoe-Box Shows
Little shows that come out of a shoe box. Original stories and classic tales with participation, craft, and souvenir.
Bimwili and the Zimwi
A Table-Top Shoe-Box puppet show from an African folktale,. Bimwili and the Zimwi is introduced by giving each child the sensory experience of putting his ear to a large shell and listening for the sound of the sea. The story centers around a little girl who is caught by a magical Zimwi creature. Trapped in a drum with her shell she is made to sing during his drum performances in different villages. All ends well when her voice is recognized in her home village. The mother and daughter manage to trick the Zimwi , the girl is freed, and the Zimwi gives up and flies away as a seagull. The children participate in the show as village audiences who cheer, feed, and then later boo the Zimwi, After the puppet show the participants are given strips of paper and taught how to fold them into bird wings. They take turns flying to imaginary places.
Other Shows include: The Little Lost Dinosaur, Little Red Riding Hood, and Snow White and The Seven Dwarves.
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Fred and Baby Blue
A Floor show featuring found and recycled objects. There is an high-rise apartment building made from cardboard boxes, with a parking garage, an elevator up and a chute going to a dumpster. Fred and Baby Blue live on the top floor. One day, Baby Blue wanders out for an adventure, slides down the chute and joins the circus. Fred tries desperately to find him. When the circus train rolls back around to the city, Baby Blue is homesick and quits the circus. But Baby Blue can't climb back up to the apartment. Fred finds him and they are happily re-united. Baby Blue promises not to wander off and Fred promises not to leave him alone again, and because he has to work, finds a babysitter.
The optional craft is making their own buildings out of simple materials.
The optional craft is making their own buildings out of simple materials.
SHOWS FOR ORCHESTRAS AND ENSEMBLES
The Circus and Sebastian and The Sorcerer's Apprentice with the Fisherman and the Genie and several shorter pieces can also be done with live music.
The Lonely Loch Ness Monster
A puppet ballet created by Penny Jones. The score for trombone, flute, oboe, viola, violin and cello, was composed for the production by Natasha Ghent. Cast includes a narrator,five puppeteers, and six musicians.
Musical instruments play signature melodies for all the puppets’ voices. The trombone is the sound of a sad and lonely Loch Ness monster named Nessie. Abrasive strings are the sound of an unpleasant family named Scratch who try to kidnap him.
A bird, a pixie, a mermaid, and assorted Scottish ghosts all try but fail to save him. Finally, the West Wind blows the Scratches back to Dundee for good. Nessie, with new friends, finds happiness.
Performed at BAM with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.
Premiered at Greenwich House Music School.
“Beautiful blending of puppetry and music intermingled ingeniously with originality and true creativity”
– Puppetry Guild of Greater New York Newsletter
Musical instruments play signature melodies for all the puppets’ voices. The trombone is the sound of a sad and lonely Loch Ness monster named Nessie. Abrasive strings are the sound of an unpleasant family named Scratch who try to kidnap him.
A bird, a pixie, a mermaid, and assorted Scottish ghosts all try but fail to save him. Finally, the West Wind blows the Scratches back to Dundee for good. Nessie, with new friends, finds happiness.
Performed at BAM with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.
Premiered at Greenwich House Music School.
“Beautiful blending of puppetry and music intermingled ingeniously with originality and true creativity”
– Puppetry Guild of Greater New York Newsletter
Master Peter's Puppet Show
One-act chamber opera by DeFalla (Suitable for performance with chamber orchestra and singers).
The singer playing Don Quixote comes upon a puppet show in which a knight sets off to rescue the heroine held captive by the Moors. When the soldiers chase the escaping couple, Quixote rushes to help, slashing the paper puppets with his sword, and destroying the stage, over the despairing protests of Master Peter and the boy narrator. Undaunted, Quixote ends the opera with a climactic aria,“Long Live Knighthood!”
“The puppet show was rendered with ingenuity and wit by Penny Jones & Co. Puppets, in the traditional manner of a European street fair. The puppets were exhibited on their own little stage set, enclosed by the stage curtains. The singers performed on the apron,
the orchestra on the floor beneath them.
-The Star-Ledger
“It features highly stylized puppets, designed by Penny Jones and inspired by medieval frescoes in Barcelona.”
-New York Post
The singer playing Don Quixote comes upon a puppet show in which a knight sets off to rescue the heroine held captive by the Moors. When the soldiers chase the escaping couple, Quixote rushes to help, slashing the paper puppets with his sword, and destroying the stage, over the despairing protests of Master Peter and the boy narrator. Undaunted, Quixote ends the opera with a climactic aria,“Long Live Knighthood!”
“The puppet show was rendered with ingenuity and wit by Penny Jones & Co. Puppets, in the traditional manner of a European street fair. The puppets were exhibited on their own little stage set, enclosed by the stage curtains. The singers performed on the apron,
the orchestra on the floor beneath them.
-The Star-Ledger
“It features highly stylized puppets, designed by Penny Jones and inspired by medieval frescoes in Barcelona.”
-New York Post
Genevieve de Brabant
A satirical, tongue-in-cheek puppet opera by Eric Satie. Queen Genevieve, unjustly accused of adultery,is left to die in the forest with her infant son . They survive on nuts and berries. Some years later,with help from a magic doe, the remorseful king reinstates her in the palace. Alas, her stomach isnot used to palace food, and now she does die.But this entitles her to sainthood, so -according to Satie, the story ends happily.The puppet opera concludes with: “The story turned out well. The villain went to hell.The virtuous side has won. So lets go home. It’s over and done.”
Originally produced in collaboration with Benjamin Yarmolinsky at The Music Barge. Available as a joint production with singers and enesemble.
Originally produced in collaboration with Benjamin Yarmolinsky at The Music Barge. Available as a joint production with singers and enesemble.