Jon Ludwig’s adaptation is faithful to the original storyline, encouraging the self-acceptance of those who are different - or, as the script refers to them, “misfits.” A roving puppeteer greets Center for Puppetry Arts museum guests as they enter the “Christmas Town” area that includes the “Rudolph” show and exhibit and cheery holiday decorations. The puppet styles employed in the center’s production of Rudolph are different from the TV classic, and include rod, body and blacklight puppets, often enhanced by projected moving images. Now they are on long-term loan to the Atlanta institution. That was before a detailed restoration that returned Rudolph’s red nose and half of Santa’s yak-hair mustache. That’s quite an uptick from when an “Antiques Roadshow” expert appraised them for $8,000 to $10,000 in 2005, after a family member of Barbara Adams, an employee of Rankin/Bass in the 1970s, retrieved them from the attic. In a sale held in Los Angeles by Profiles in History auction house late last year, the figures went for $368,000, far eclipsing their estimated value of $150,000 to $200,000. It’s the kind of star treatment one would expect for King Tut’s tomb, reflecting how beloved the puppets are - and perhaps also how valuable. The 6-inch-tall Rudolph and 11-inch-tall Santa, handmade creations of Japanese puppet-maker Ichiro Komuro, command the entire gallery, set off by a backdrop painted with snowy trees. Guests reach the display at the end of a hall of blue-white shimmering material that makes you feel like you’re strolling amid North Pole icebergs toward Something Very Important. The wee figures are given big-star treatment, displayed inside an acrylic vitrine in a gallery a level below the theater. Upping the nostalgia ante, the Center for Puppetry Arts also is presenting an exhibit of the Rudolph and Santa puppets from the 1964 Rankin/Bass Productions TV special, made in collaboration with animation wizard Tadahito Mochinaga and his MOM Film Studio in Tokyo. After taking last Christmas off due to the pandemic, Rudolph has returned to the puppetry center to light up the holidays for the 11th year with his bulbous red nose. Rudolph is to the Center for Puppetry Arts what “The Nutcracker” is for Atlanta Ballet and a thousand other dance companies: a provider of holiday jingle that bolsters the bottom line year-round. It’s like the holiday set has escaped the theater and is gradually wrapping everything that isn’t moving in sparkly reds, greens and silvers.Īll of this and more plays a supporting role for the puppetry center’s main attraction, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the puppet show based on the 1964 stop-motion animated Christmas television special. Upstairs, kids and parents collaborate on Rudolph shadow puppets in the Create-A-Puppet Workshop. Santa and Rudolph puppets from the 1964 TV special are featured in a gallery exhibition that is part of the Center for Puppetry Arts’ “Christmas Town” special attraction.Īt one end of the lobby, there’s even a circa-1950s coin-operated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer amusement ride of the sort that sat outside sundry stores before insurance liability became such a buzz kill. Now through January 2, the Midtown funhouse has been transformed into “Christmas Town,” with giant snowflakes dangling from its atrium’s high ceiling, multiple Christmas trees sparkling with lights, and gift-wrapped presents stacked high. It’s hard to top the Center for Puppetry Arts. But, say you’re a theatergoer who wants to go walking in a Winter Wonderland, or the closest you can come to it in a city where every sled is gridlocked on a 70-degree fall day. All across snowy Atlanta (OK, not snowy, but one can wish), theater companies are staging A Christmas Carol or decking their halls with other holiday confections.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |