January 31, 2007
It's Like the Muppets, Only Hornier
The Diesel Playhouse is currently playing host to Cabaret U-Mano, a puppet-based theatre troupe. But their show has more in common with Meet the Feebles than Lambchop's Play-Along. True to its name, the show is set up cabaret-style, with different puppet characters coming onstage (alongside their various puppeteers, decked out in adorable lululemon blacks) and performing songs one after another. For the songs, the puppets lip synch to various popular songs - everything from Nina Simone to the Stars on 54 version of "If You Could Read My Mind". But the gender-bending puppets tend to give balls-to-the-wall performances, often attempting to undress their puppeteers, or themselves. The result is something between The Muppet Show and a drag show.
Cabaret U-Mano is a lot of fun. The puppets are inventive and the puppeteers talented, attractive and smiley. And the music is all quite good (in fact, some of us might have most of the songs on our iTunes already). It wasn't hard to be charmed by their version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" which featured a rather libidinous wolf and sheep who pawed each other and their puppeteers throughout the song. The most impressive number of the evening was probably "Let Me Entertain You" (from the musical Gypsy) performed by a puppet who also did a striptease in which she removed her clothes, then her hair, her face and everything until all that was left were the hands of the puppeteers.
There was just one aspect of Cabaret U-Mano that felt somewhat lacking. Every drag show has its diva and every cabaret has its emcee. Even the Muppets had Kermit. But there are no live vocals in Cabaret U-Mano, only the recordings of other artists. The show could really be tightened and made cohesive by the use of some dialogue on the part of either the puppets or the puppeteers - and this would also make the characters more distinct. But it's still a totally fun way to spend an evening, and your chances of seeing tranny puppets belt out "Let's Talk About Sex" outside of this show are sadly few and far between.
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I realize it isn't hip or edgy or raunchy, but Famous People Players, the non-profit theatre troupe performed by and for the benefit of the developmentally disabled, has been doing basically this exact thing for more than 30 years. Except they also do it in blacklight, so as to make the performers invisible, creating basically a living cartoon on stage.
In fact, in the year or so I've been volunteering and stage managing for them, I've seen them close out at least two separate runs of shows with 'Let Me Entertain You', and it ends in nearly a carbon-copy of what's described above -- minus whatever nudity there may be here.
Not exactly sure what I'm trying to say here, just had to point out that while this might be an entertaining show, it's hardly unique, and minus the raunch factor, you could head down to Parkdale and see some dancing puppets 12 months a year, supporting a Toronto and Canadian institution that works toward a very good cause.
I have never seen a Famous People Players show, but I am aware of them and I think they are doing good work. It's definitely not cool if Cabaret U-Mano actually ripped off FPP's "Let Me Entertain You" schtick, but at the same time, it's an idea I can imagine more than one person coming up with independantly - I remember seeing a similar concept years ago on The Muppet Show using the song "All of Me." Personally, I think this city's big enough for two talented puppet troupes to exist side by side, especially when one's only a touring show.
If you'd researched the company that performed the show, you'd know that they're french-speaking Quebecois, and the show travels as well as it does because the songs are 'universal' and spoken language isn't.
And on the subject of Famous People Players, I don't know about the Gypsy number, but the two performance styles are different. Cabaret U-Mano highlights the athleticism and body-grammar of the performers, whereas FPP is much more based in illusion.
Also, I'm rather sick of hearing about puppetry for adult audiences being described in reference to the Muppets. Can we not talk about puppet theatre as its own art? While I agree that this type of work is highly influenced by Henson, I assure you, people can understand puppetry without calling it "something between the Muppet Show and ________" or an adult-version of some children's show stuff.
The miffed puppet-nerd will take her leave now.
Well, the last thing I wanted to do in writing this review was piss off the puppet-nerds, so apologies. But I do stand by what I said about there not being any dialogue from the puppets detracting from the show as a whole. Cause it did. And I did know that the troupe was Quebec-based, but do you really think that in a nationally-touring group of Quebecois theatre artists no one speaks a word of English? Plus, almost every song they "sang" was in English, so I'm not really sure "universalism" was the intention or the effect.
Also, I have seen (and even reviewed) theatre involving puppets that had nothing to do with the Muppets and have not bothered mentioning Jim Henson. But, as you said, this show was highly influenced by Henson and I felt that the comparison was entirely appropriate.