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artofwinniethepooh · 2 years ago

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Some photos taken of the construction of the Rabbit puppet built by Matt Brooks for The Book of Pooh (2001-2003)

A small departure from what I usually post, but I’ve always been fascinated by the puppetry in the series and it’s fun to get a look behind the scenes!

Along with Brooks, Rabbit was also puppeteered by Noel MacNeal, Paul McGinnis, and sometimes Tyler Bunch in place of Brooks.

Production photos also give some neat insight into the process behind the puppetry and filming. Take this one featuring Rick Lyon assisting with the Tigger puppet for instance!

On his website, Lyon says:

“… a picture of me with Tigger -- I happened to be assisting with his hands that day. Why am I wearing that freaky green outfit? The puppets are performed Bunraku-style (from behind, usually with three puppeteers performing one character), with the puppeteers in green from head to toe in front of a green background, which is keyed out (like a weatherman standing in front of a weather map). The scenery for the show is all computer generated, in real time, such that wherever the camera turns, the computer-generated scenery shifts accordingly.”

He also shares photos of some of the other folks behind the series. Pictured here is Ronald Binion, principal puppeteer behind Eeyore who also designed and built the puppet, and Amanda Maddock, another principal puppeteer who happened to be performing Owl.

“Per-forming Eeyore is really tricky -- he is, after all, the only quadraped in the cast, and that makes it incredibly hard to manipulate his legs without green rods crossing his body and creating problems with the key.”

Pictured amongst a flurry of puppeteer action is creator and executive producer Mitchell Kriegman. Along with having directed many of the episodes, Mitchell is also the creator behind another show featuring puppets, Bear in the Big Blue House.

Ron Binion also shares some photos that offer a glimpse into the filming of Book of Pooh on his website as well, as seen here.

#the book of pooh #Matt Brooks #Ron Binion #Amanda Maddock #Mitchel Kriegman #puppets #puppetry

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lazydrag0n6777 · 7 years ago

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(Tried once to post this and it disappeared into the void) This picture isn't really that hard to find at all, but it is one of my favorite behind the scenes photos.

#lazytown #behind the scenes #robbie rotten #stingy #pixel #jodi eichelberger #Ron binion

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brothermarc7theatre · 5 years ago

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“For the Love of a Glove” show #814

Julien Nitzberg’s eccentric musical fable, For the Love of a Glove, attempts to bring to stage a look at how Michael Jackson’s alleged child molestation crimes may have been begun. Set in a wacky, visually-lacking world of puppets, a bedroom, and zany construction and color, something reminiscent of a Seussical, the Musical set gone awry, For the Love of a Glove isn’t bad enough to be good nor bad enough to bad. What’s left is a mostly-committed, mostly-talented cast whose gifts don’t elevate Mr. Nitzberg’s script and direction, but rather expose its glaring weaknesses and flaws.

What could have been a really fun exploration of the inner-workings of Michael Jackson’s psyche is more of situation where puppets, multiple concepts, and a decent score by Nicole Morier, Drew Erickson, and Max Townsley collide and muddy up any sort of thru line journey. This is one of the first musicals I have ever sat back and wondered, “was the rhyme in the second line thought of first and so the preceding line was forced to rhyme with it, or vice versa?�� The majority of the lyrics are groan-worthy, at best, even when delivered with a pristine gusto by a cast who might as well commit to the show while they’re doing it; to be fair, the music itself has a lot of good doo-wop and pop sounds. However, where the show truly misses the mark is in its puppeteering. Ron Binion’s lead puppet artistry is quite good, from puppet-izing the Jackson 5, and the subsequent gloves who come to earth to feed on their blood. Unfortunately, in nearly all of the performances, the actor handling the puppet was much more engaging than the puppet itself. This creates a disjointed focus for the audience when we’re already trying to wrap our minds around this musical.

(Eric B. Anthony (Michael Jackson); Photo credit: Julien Nitzberg)

Eric B. Anthony’s performance as Michael is quite stellar, from vocals to acting to dancing. It’s a shame he has to stand behind a puppet for all of Act One, because his Act Two standalone performance literally is above-and-beyond the rest. His soft-palette gets quite the workout as he speaks and sings like the higher-pitched Michael for at least 90% of the show, but executes this vocal demand with aplomb. Jerry Minor’s performance as Thrihl-Lha, Michael’s glove alien, is perhaps the dullest, most phoned-in, walk-through-a-part performance I have ever seen. His vocal chops and Michael-esque speaking voice make sense, but he never makes the effort worthwhile. His comic timing is more begging rather than humorously engaging. Andrew Ableson’s performance as Vikh-Tah, glove sibling to Thrihl-Lha and leader of the glove-alien family, delivers a great performance, complete with exaggerated dialect and stellar vocals throughout his solo turns. He leads the energy on stage, in voice and movement, along with Mr. Anthony quite well.

(Jerry Minor (Thrihl-Lha); Photo credit: Julien Nitzberg)

Ogie Banks and Suzanne Nichols do well as the Jackson parents, especially in Ms. Nichols’ Act One solo where she delivers a strict warning to Michael and Jermaine about a certain self-satisfying sexual act that a proper Jehovah’s Witness would never commit. Mr. Banks has the song-and-dance charisma that is a step above caricature, but he calibrates it in a way that never loses steam. Daniel Mills delivers a standout performance as Berry Gordy, the Michael Jackson manager who eventually “Pat Boone’s” him with the actual Pat Boone. Mr. Mills has a delectable baritone that makes even the crudest lyrics about his anatomy ones worth listening to because he sells it so damn well.

Bryan Anthony’s choreography leaves much to be desired, mainly because not one group number is executed as a unit. There are moments of visual excellence, namely when the glove-ography takes precedence, but even those are never performed with uniformity or precision. Mr. Nitzberg’s direction doesn’t do much to help the book, leaving the very purpose of a musical like this un-approached. At no point during the two-act musical do the lines, lyrics, or direction justify Jackson’s alleged actions nor do they spoof it enough to allow the audience to laugh it off, or even experience a more thought-provoking commentary on how the music or religious industries could be cause for producing people like Jackson. There are a couple of heavy-hitting sermon-type monologues sprinkled in each act, but those serve more as cocktail-infused rants at a party where thirty people were invited but only seven showed up and the host is pissed at the non-attending twenty-three but preaches to the seven who actually showed up. I showed up, and this is what I got? I wish I had even a little love for this glove, but such is not the case.

#fortheloveofaglove #michaeljackson #theatre #musicaltheatre #musical #losangeles #losangelestheatre #theatrereview

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noramoya · 5 years ago

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Local playwright/filmmaker Julien Nitzberg announced here today that his new work for the theater, FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE, AN UNAUTHORIZED MUSICAL FABLE ABOUT THE LIFE OF Michael Jackson AS TOLD BY HIS GLOVE, will open Friday, January 25, 2020. FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE is the inaugural prodution of a new addition to the thriving DTLA/Hollywood adjacent cultural scene, the Carl Sagan-Ann Druyan Theater on the ground floor of the Center For Inquiry (CFI) at 2535 W. Temple Street where, offers Nitzberg: "We are a perfect fit for this gorgeous new space especially because we share CFI's mission to critique how people misuse religion to promote homophobia and racism."

FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE stars Jerry Minor in the title role THRHIL-LHA (aka The Glove) and Eric B. Anthony as Michael Jackson. As with the hit Broadway musical AVENUE Q, the actors in “FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE” perform their 20 roles while visible to the audience. Unlike AVENUE Q, this show does not use "Muppet style" puppets, rather specially designed, meticulously built Japanese Bunraku-style puppets. Realistic and close to life size, these 20 all-original works of art portray all members of the Jackson 5, Donny Osmond, Emmanuel Lewis, Corey Feldman and Bubbles the Chimp. An announcement of the supporting cast will come soon.

The show's producers are Leigh Crawford, Johhny Depp, Sam Sarkar and Depp's company Infinitum Nihil, Anthony "Tony" Jones, Betsy Zajko and Burk Zanft. FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE is directed by Julien Nitzberg who wrote the book and lyrics. Composers are Drew Erickson, Nicole Morier and Max Townsley. Production designer is Andrea Keller; costumes by Ann Closs-Farley. Robin Walsh is lead puppet designer and puppet director. Ron Binion is puppet designer and build coordinator; Dale Van Slyke serves as puppet build assistant and assistant stage manager reporting to stage manager Sarah Dawn Lowry. Amanda Bierbauer is production manager.

Tickets to FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE are on sale today at https://www.fortheloveofaglove.com For THE LOVE OF A GLOVE takes an off-kilter approach to the life story of Michael Jackson. Using Michael's Glove as the play's narrator, the show is a fresh, revisionist look at the strange forces that shaped Jackson and the scandals that bedeviled him. By re-telling true life events through the perspective of a glove, which is also a musically talented alien trying to take over humanity, the show is comical and unflinching, its music infused with the spirit of Motown.

In real life, Michael's favorite musical was THE SOUND OF MUSIC. This Rodgers and Hammerstein classic trafficked not in any of the actual music performed in real life by the von Trapp family, but rather employed a completely original score. Inspired by this, FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE does not use any of the Jackson 5's or Michael's music, rather only original music created by the composer team of Erickson, Morier and Townsley (more on them below).

Deeply researched, FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE puts at its center the Amadeus/Salieri relationship between Michael and Donny Osmond, suggesting it is the key to understanding Michael's future fixations both professional and personal. Before cultural appropriation became a contemporary buzzword, the Osmonds appropriated the Jackson 5's look and sound in a way that caused controversy in the black community but was largely ignored in the white world. FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE delves into this strange history while also surveying the damage that the Jehovah's Witnesses (Michael's own religion) may have inflicted on Michael, and also how its particular rules might have shaped his art. FOR THE LOVE OF A GLOVE is no greatest hits revue or "jukebox musical"; rather, like LA itself, the show is more than the sum of its numerous influences from Japan, Motown, Hollywood and multiple outer space signifiers.”

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deanmiles13 · 6 years ago

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GONE GAMBLIN’ A NIGHT IN LAS VEGAS WITH THE SUPERSUCKERS

This was to be some weekend….

It started with a road trip up to Seattle to see The Hellacopters/Quadra Jets at the Showbox. That was a barn burner, recorded and later released on the live Sub Pop album.

I had seen them in Portland, and I don’t think they had a great time at E.J.’s. This time they opted to just do Seattle.

Road Trip….

Great show with surprise guest Scott Morgan joining the Copters for two Sonic’s Rendezvous songs.

Afterwards I was whisked away to SeaTac Airport by good friend, Lisa Z and was on the next flight that morning to Las Vegas. Getting into Las Vegas, hungover and dead from the night before, the sun SEEMED like a refreshing thing… NOT!!!

I remember I could see my hotel, from the airport, but it was advised that I would probably die if I had tried to walk to it.

So, I got a cab, and this is before cell phones and got to the hotel. We had made plans to meet at the pool.

It was sweltering hot and I had to get in.

But first, had to meet my people, and then get the key to go up to the room, to change, to come back down to the pool. Las Vegas is huge….

We were at Mandalay Bay which was awesome. A fake beach and lazy river to relax in with drinks. Pretty awesome. Getting day drunk in the heat was kinda nasty, but what the heck, I was ALL IN this weekend. The show that night was X with The Supersuckers opening up. We had an inside contact with the suckers and had passes waiting etc. I had a camera and was shooting a lot of bands at the time, so was permitted a photo pass. NICE….

We pretty much got to the show and the boys were on stage. I started shooting out in front of the stage and was immediately shut down and told I could only shoot from the stage.

Alrighty then. NO problem.

Up to side stage I went and started to shoot. “Act like you’ve been there before” is my motto and I slid with it.

Suckers are doing their Devil Rock and Roll thing and we see them off the stage and X is up next. I still had to be on the side of the stage to shoot. NO problem.

Especially since Jane Wiedlin was there as well, watching her old pals in X.

The only thing was, I had NO IDEA it was her. She had on a Cleopatra wig.

So, I kicked her drink over.

Hey, it was sitting on the floor. I mean I apologized right away, and offered her another drink. But, she was more than cool about it. We were going Cool Places.

As I’m standing there taking pictures of X, a band that I was introduced to from Decline of the Western Civilization, and had been a huge fan of, and here I am standing ON STAGE basically with them. WTF indeed.

I owe this all to Ron apparently who had given us the passes. I’m standing by Billy Zoom and he had just returned to the band making this an early version of their “Reunion”.

The band finishes their set and we make our way back to the Suckers dressing room. I got my camera with me, but we are on a smoke brake at the moment and talking about their album that just got shelved. They were gonna write a whole batch of new stuff and Eddie mentioned they were going to write about Tucson.

Jan. 87 Tucson AZ article on the house I lived in. OZ House. Eddie is quoted in the article. Here is a picture of their singer Eric, who went on to be in the Black Supersucker. Then immortalized in the song Marie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1hl5Pou6k8

See…. I had come to Portland from Tucson and they traded the desert for the rain around the same time. 1988. I believe we may have been “running from” the same sorta of situation in Tucson. Kids lived beyond their years down there and you found yourself knee deep in adult situations real quick.

Anyway, as I’m listening to Gone Gamblin the song, it totally brings me back to the story at hand…

We were backstage and they are gonna rewrite the album etc. and Eddie says “Hey that was pretty cool that Jane Wiedlin was there tonite!” I said WHAT?!?! WHERE?!?!

He said “Standing right by you the whole nite!!!” It suddenly hit me, it was my favorite fucking band growing up-THE GO GO’S- guitarist that I had kicked her drink. OH THE HORROR.

My mother had driven us as kids to see them with Flock of Seagulls at Purdue University on the Vacation Tour. I LOVED THE GO GO’S.

Then all the sudden someone comes in and says “Their ready for you!”��

Eddie grabs me and says “You’re our photographer.”

We go down the hall a little and Billy Zoom is standing there with John Doe. Ron makes small talk with Billy and there is a bench along the wall. I jump up on the bench and Billy Zoom just looked right at the camera and did that million dollar smile. I snapped the pic, and jumped down and kept moving. Thanking Billy, we make our way into the room proper.

It is full of various people, but Exene is starting to stand up from this really cool chair with flames around it. Out of nowhere I ask her “Exene?!?! Would you mind sitting back down so I can get a picture of you in that cool chair?”

She totally complied and I got up on a coffee table and shot the picture like I was from fucking Rolling Stone or something. So I’m out of my mind and again, playing it like I’ve been there before.

We then make our way to the bathroom they had there in the dressing room. And it’s popping off!!! I saw NO DRUGS. That is 100% honest. Straight up…

But man, it was just alive. Ron kinda seemed in the center and the action and they were all in the shower goofing off with the shower head. Acting like it was a mic and singing into it. All of the sudden the disposable camera’s came out. Told you, this was pre cell phones.

Danny Bland was their manager and he started to hand them to me in an orderly fashion. As the Supersuckers posed with Exene and Jane, I snapped away. INCREDIBLE. Luckily I have the photo’s to prove it:)

So…. From there we make our way to the MGM Grand, which was where they all seemed to be staying. We get there and it’s packed. At 2:30am!!!

We get in line and make small talk about what we wanna do etc. and then all of the sudden the automatic doors come open and it’s Jane with some guy who is pulling himself on the ground all the way through the lobby. I mean, like he fell out of a wheelchair and had to make his way inside somehow!

Well, everyone is wondering WTF is going on, and is this guy ok? Jane is kinda cheering him on.. “Come on, you can do it!” Then all of the sudden, he pops up to his feet and acts as if nothing has happened.

WTF indeed. Mommy look at me?!?!

Anyway, we make out way up to their rooms while I take a fair amount of ribbing from that hard case of the band MR. DAN BOLTON AGE ?

Trying to represent the Turbonegro, decked out in denim, Dan comes at me with “Look at this guy trying to look like Corey Hart!”

Which was a pretty good line. I laughed.. But then again, I can laugh at myself.

Ron, being a little cooler, was making small talk with me and I told him I just flew in from seeing the Hellacopters last nite. He gushed about how much he liked them, so I hooked him up with some extra stickers I scored. He was very gracious.

We smoked some more weed and then proceeded to pile into a rickshaw thing that carried a load of people. I felt bad for the dude…

But we made our way down to Binions Horseshoe to play craps. I was familiar but unfamiliar so Eddie was very patient and kind of explained the basics and I have to tell ya, I was hooked on dice for a bit.

Anyways, we said our goodbyes by the time we got to the penny slots.

They probably got in their van, on the dusty old road to give you two friendly beeps on that horn.

Meanwhile we were looking for that van behind CIRCUS CIRCUS that had sold us some blow earlier that night!

Into the wayward wind I keep on traveling

I’ve gone gamblin.

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