To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org From: jon green <puppen-AT-mac.com> Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:15:33 -0500 Subject: [Puptcrit] SOM- Audience Several people took exception to the Philadelphia critic's comments about the audience at the Salzburg Marionettes production of the Sound of Music. Well, he was spot on. I have never seen or heard such a disruptive audience. Of course the problem is not the children, it is the "entitled" upper East Side Mothers*. At last Sunday's matinee there were several infants, one year olds and two year olds. These children are just too young to see a broadway musical, even one adapted to marionettes. The older children all seemed to have a bag of potato chips that they ate throughout the show ( OK, it only seemed as if each and everyone had a bag of chips, but there were enough that bags were crackling throughout the performance) . The girl next to me had a bracelet made of jingle bells that she fiddled with the entire first act. When I asked that the child remove it for the second act, I was told that this was out of the question as she had made it herself. I had thought that the audience at the Saturday evening production of The Magic Flute was less well behaved than was acceptable, but the Sunday matinee audience was the worst. I suppose part of the problem here is that there is no longer any real sense of an "adult" puppet tradition. Puppets are for children- very young children. Yes, there is some adult puppetry on the fringes, but the average mainstream american cannot fathom that puppetry is for anyone older than 12. *I say mothers because a., most fathers are AWOL at these events, and b., when they are present, they insist on more disciplined behavior. Jon _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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