““Puppets” is a cathartic confessional cabaret about some questionable heterosexual dating choices. Wholesome and ultimately feel good“
Kate Gaul
3 /5 Dumped Muppets
“Puppets” is a cabaret style production that follows a 25 year old Olivia as she reflects on her search for love, with a bunch of men she calls Muppets. The musical narrative repurposes songs by Cyndi Lauper, Sondheim, Gershwin, Taylor Swift, Bonnie Tyler and more. It’s musically eclectic and certainly puts a fresh spin on dating game, the lost in love game, with apps, hook-ups and the never-ending waiting for that text or call and the inevitable heart-break that follows. Who’d be 25 again??!!
Olivia Ruggiero is the writer, performer, and producer. She’s got energy to burn and musically segues between multiple genres mostly with ease. Occasionally we get to hear some impressive operatic chops at work. I suspect Olivia is a young performer to watch now she calls Sydney home. Olivia was really pushing her music director and accompanist Charlotte Leamon. Olivia sang acoustically but the keyboard was amplified through the house sound rig, which gave a weird sound experience where the piano seemed to come from a different direction and often felt in competition with the singer.
The intimate KXT venue is the perfect stage. The space is warmly and attractively designed as a young woman’s apartment with the long clothing rack of floral dresses, a couch, breakfast bar, various mats and pics on the wall. Director Carly Fisher confidently stages this light bubbly show of doomed love and the search for personal agency. Carly’s tastes and influences are all things Broadway and she unashamedly gives “Puppets” a Broadway flourish or two. She knows how to make a show. I, for one, want to see more! Sophie Parker supplies an impressive lighting design – a traverse stage is a tricky space to light and Sophie’s assured design and dramaturgical eye more than supports the onstage drama.
And then there are the Muppets – fluffy replicas of the famed Muppets of Sesame Street – who stand in for the men in Olivia’s life. Sometimes Olivia voices the characters, other times a recording is used (voiced by Elliott Mitchell). The Muppets are a lovely gimmick and could make for good drama. Puppetry is an art and this is one area that the performer and director can develop for the production’s future life. The Muppets never genuinely came to life; they didn’t possess any inner life so there was nothing at stake. Having set up the existence of these men/Muppets the production could have exploited more of their sides of the story using the already established voice-over element. This could be useful during the onstage/offstage costume changes where the performer ducked behind a screen and it was all just to hard to catch everything she was saying.
“Puppets” is a cathartic confessional cabaret about some questionable heterosexual dating choices. Wholesome and ultimately feel good I was seduced into feeling only slightly disturbed by the finale: complete with wedding dress, tap shoes and the heroine belting out “Holding out for a Hero”. I’m left pondering just how far we’ve come in our search for love.
Kate Gaul, Theatre Now
