Center for Puppetry Arts PAUL BUNYAN AND THE TALL TALE MEDICINE

Starting January 22, Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts is showing the family-friendly Paul Bunyan and the Tall Tale Medicine Show. The performance features a retelling of some well-loved tall tales of the American West, and one lesser known Native American story, using the Center’s varied, complex, and seamlessly executed puppetry. Though billed as suitable for ages 4 and up, the show has much to appeal to adults as well, especially anyone interested in puppetry. The Center brings a lot of sophistication and skill to bear, even to a children’s show, in the form of varied classic puppet techniques combined in innovative ways. Those knowledgeable in the form will recognize rod puppets, marionettes, shadow puppetry, and even the Japanese puppetry form bunraku, which involves life-size puppets without rods or strings, manipulated by visible performers. This latter appears in the final story, that of the Native American maiden Hekeke.

Center for Puppetry Arts Stages a Modern Medicine Show

The entire show is framed by the device of a medicine show, a form of Old West entertainment that featured a variety of acts which kept audiences entertained while the owner (often posing as a doctor) sold their dubious medicine. In this case, the medicine is Tall Tale Tonic, which (according to “Dr.” Hezekiah Bigelow, the host and principal narrator of the show) makes the characters in the stories run faster, grow taller, and overcome even the trickiest of quandaries.

Four Tall Puppet Tales

The title character, Paul Bunyan, comes first of the four heroes in the show, and his story is told by an intriguing combination of hand and rod puppets and live actors. The “giant” Paul Bunyan is played a normal-sized human actor, whose scale is vast compared to the smaller puppets on the stage. Along with Babe the Blue Ox, Paul Bunyan get into a variety of exploits, some familiar and some less familiar. After cutting down quite a few trees, this version adds an eco-friendly note, with Paul and Babe going off to plant trees at the end of the story to assuage the Shy Forest the discover when the reach the Pacific. All the “tall tales” are accompanied by live songs, dance, and music from Pert Near Pat (music director S. Renee Clark) on the piano, and many of the songs, composed by John Cerreta, are quite catchy: you may find yourself humming them days later.

The next tall tale is that of John Henry, which is styled like a silent film, though performed live with intricate fully-animated shadow puppets. The puppeteers’ attention to detail is such that they even manage to include a flicker effect to capture the look of old silent film, along with wonderful music. The third tale is that of Pecos Bill, which returns to the hand and rod puppetry of the first story, and includes a lovely moment with Pecos Bill sitting beneath the stars and singing the classic western folk song “Home on the Range.”

A Less Familiar Native American Tale

The fourth and final tall tale will perhaps be less familiar to many audience members: a Native American story in which the maiden Hekeke uses her wits to outsmart an evil ogre. The performers pull out all the stops to craft a depiction with a somewhat darker feel and more unusual forms of puppetry. The heroine and her beloved are both played using beautiful, life-size bunraku puppets manipulated by the performers, who stand, fully visible, behind the figures. The ogre puppet is immense, with a huge moveable mouth and hand, and serves as a visually striking way to end the show.

Dolph Amick plays the medicine salesman, Dr. Hezekiah Bigelow, with a level of commitment and investment in the character that speaks to the mixed seriousness and silliness of theatre for young audiences, and also pleases adult viewers with his humor and charm. Jimmica Collins is Hot Biscuit Betty and also plays the roguish stagehand Paul Bunny, who, with his big personality and despite his small size, manages to wrestle a cyclone to the ground near the end of the show. Tim Seeney towers over the puppets as the giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan, and Stephanie Lloyd plays the feisty Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett, who is so tough she wears a hornet’s nest for a hat and a rattlesnake for a belt.

Paul Bunyan and the Tall Tale Medicine Show is a great show for kids and adults--it is delivered with a sense of fun that belies the level of artistry that goes into the many varied puppet forms and performances. Whether you are a parent looking for a fun outing with the kids, or a fan of the art form of puppetry, or some combination of the two, Paul Bunyan… is sure to please.