At the Hole-in-the-Wall...

Barb's reaction:

It probably began with a childhood fascination with and love for Pinocchio. I can remember playing the soundtrack album from the Disney Movie over and over and singing and dancing to "I've Got No Strings"...I used to practice talking without moving my lips (I still do)...Then there were the puppets in Mister Rogers' "Neighborhood of Make Believe", and the Muppets...but, after seeing "Being John Malkovich", I resigned myself to a closet fascination with puppeteering and marionettes. I don't believe I EVER shared this with ANYONE (I've openly admitted my enchantment with ventriloquists! That seems an acceptable "first step")...so I was pretty darn excited to learn that Ron and I were attending The Hole in the Wall Puppet Theatre's ADULT show! But, I pretended to be HORRIFIED!
I really had no idea what to expect....Bawdy, suggestive humor? Marionettes whacking each other with fake penises? You just NEVER KNOW....But, sweetening the deal was an included beverage! Everything's better with wine involved!

I ended up being completely DELIGHTED by the entire evening. First, "The Hole in the Wall" is just that. A tiny, adorable row home on Water Street in Lancaster. I sweet little sign, an attractive welcoming door...just like the witch's gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretal?...

We walked into a little foyer hallway that opens on the left into a intimate theatre area with a lighted stage and about 25 seats. Immediately to our right was the "ticket window". We were greeted by a sweet little lady in a floor length caftan holding a black poodle...think Magda without the smokers' voice in "There's Something About Mary". She encouraged us to look at the marionettes from the current children's show, "The Wizard of Oz" that were displayed on the stage, before joining the other guests for a drink. We did. We then moved through the gift shop into the "museum" where we were greeted from the bar/counter by the Puppeteer/host Robert Brock, a Nathan Lane in "The Birdcage" clone! We got our wine - quickly - and looked around at the museum displays, then took seats at one of the cabaret tables that had been set up and decorated for the event with candles and streamers, rolled and ready to throw. We socialized for a couple of minutes, and then Robert sang a couple of Beatles songs accompanied by Larry Huslin on the upright piano. Those songs segued into an original script starring the life and times of Texas Guinan, a charming flapper marionette portrayal of a prohibitionist icon. We were given "clappers" and encouraged to throw our streamers!

I couldn't stop smiling...Robert was a joy, so exuberantly sharing his talent in a venue created and maintained to fulfill his dream. The place was SPOTLESS! This was not a sad, musty, moldy, creepy puppet cave, but a vital, loved, excited, exciting, entertaining venue! But, not only was I entertained, but also educated in a way that particularly appeals to me...fictionalized non-fiction with music! I knew the name Texas Guinan, vaguely...I wouldn't have been able to place her in the 20's...or even correctly guess her sex...before Robert's presentation. I found myself responding to her marionette with the same attention and facial expressions I would have used with a "real" person!

Marionettes at rest are pretty friken creepy! They look a lot like wasted old people in stage makeup! But, put a spotlight on them in the hands of a gifted puppetmaster.....WOW!

I'd like to go back.....