It's that time once again. Time for me to exhort people to go and see a theatre production in Philadelphia that's about to close this weekend.

Last night Kathy & I went to see The Fantasticks at Mum Puppettheatre. It's an excellent show with a superb cast - they're not only technically skilled (great singing voices, very deft with the puppets, etc.), but also very expressive & just generally interesting to watch.

I don't want to dwell on the usual questions that people have on first hearing of Mum Puppettheatre, but just to clear a couple of things up... No, it's not a "puppet show" in the sense that you might be thinking. It's theatre. There are actors playing parts. Like most plays, there are props, costumes, and other devices that help tell the story. In some particular plays, the actors seem to have more self-awareness about these devices, and awareness of the audience. The nearest comparison I can think of is "Our Town", with the narrator directly addressing the audience and explaining the sparseness of props & set pieces. In this show, you're simultaneously aware of the puppet and the actor, and the character in most cases lives in the combination of the two. The puppets interact in their own scale, but it's also useful to watch the facial expressions and eye contact of the actors (much like communicating in sign language, where you're watching the face as well as the hands that are making signs).

Anyway, we had never seen Fantasticks before, so we weren't just comparing what's *different* about this production, but enjoying it on its own, and it was very enjoyable. Lots of laughing, lots of emotion, and really impressive execution on the technical side throughout the show.

Our main reason for going was because we knew one of the cast members, Dave Jadico (well, I knew him - Kathy just met him last night). Dave was hilarious & fascinating to watch in a variety of roles (sometimes 2 at a time), including "The Old Actor" & Mortimer (his tragic-death-expert sidekick), "The Mute", orchestra (on mini piano, ukulele, and mandolin), and general prop master. I especially enjoyed some of the physical comedy with his props and his puppet characters, including the Henry/Mortimer bit with the flashlight - a little improv moment that's funny, then it seems played out, then it goes on even longer so that it's funny again (a lot like the Sammy Davis Jr joke that I mentioned from Bomb-itty).

The rest of the cast was equally strong & compelling - the young couple in love, the parental machinations, the dashing El Gallo (played like a young Ricardo Montalban)... all excellent, and well worth the ticket price.

Speaking of the ticket price, it's normally $30, but if you mention this review from the Phillyist web site, you can get tickets for half price ($15). Not bad at all.

So, to sum up, if you're in Philly, and it's not yet past May 6, go see this show. If it's after that, you can still catch Dave on stage at ComedySportz on Saturday nights.