I just got home from attending a marionette performance of "Aladdin". I have a thing for puppetry and have been in love with marionettes since I first saw "The Sound of Music", so when I made a reservation for this a few weeks ago, I knew this would be a major highlight of my Spring Break!
For an hour, I was surrounded by chirpy, little kids and awesome puppets, so it was indeed a highlight. (I'm SUCH a kid!)
The marionette theater in Vienna is in a building on the grounds of one of the former palaces - Schonbrunn, which I've referred to twice b/c of its Easter and Christmas markets that I've gone to.
A model of the palace ground plan
Cute!
The marionette theater
(Isn't the window on the right cute?)
Some marionettes from past performances were on display in an exhibition room.
The 2 marionettes in the top left corner represent the most well-known former emperor and empress of Austria, Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth ("Sisi").
(I toured their apartments yesterday.)
One of several advertisements I'm posting here
The stage area
We weren't allowed to take photos during the performance, so here are just a few character's from today's performance.
Coco, the parrot
After the show, I sat down to rest in front of a TV screen w/ English subtitles that explained how puppeteers train. It takes about 6 months for a puppeteer to fully master how to walk w/ his or her puppet, which means moving it in a realistic-looking way. Then they practice techniques for at least a year before they can begin performing.
It sounds like so much work but FUN!!
These are snapshots of the rest of the palace grounds as I was leaving.
Tomorrow is Free Museum Entrance Sunday, so you can expect at least one more blog post before I resume school on Monday! :)
