Faust with Puppets

from the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater
performance at the Bohemian National Hall on E.73rd Street

I've been hankering for a creepy puppet show, and finally got my taste last night at the so-newly-renovated-you still-see-wires-hanging Bohemian National Hall on East 73rd Street, with a performance of Johannes Dokchtor Faust by the CAMT. Faust is an old story, about some guy who sells his soul to the devil.

Puppets + devils = gotta be creepy, right?

The tickets were cheap at $18 - a tenth of the price of your latest Broadway show or Madison Square Garden concert. The tickets were general admission, seating was first come first served, so we arrived early about 20 minutes after 7pm - much too early. We were greeted in the newly renovated lobby by a nice lady who handed us the program and directed us upstairs, acknowledging that we were early as seating didn't start until 7:45pm, but there were a few seats as well as bathrooms available on the third floor. Up we go to the third floor, empty into a medium sized lobby. A couple of people were already there. We grabbed a couple of the empty chairs, and sat a while. The lobby slowly filled, and at about 7:45 some of the people who didn't get seats started lining up at the theater doors. A young gentleman dressed in velvet clothes and top hat ushered us in, but allowing only those whose program had a star on it (ours did) to be ushered in first. How we got the special stars, I do not know. A small rush into the theater, and we grabbed a couple of seats in the second row, slightly left of center. I've learned from sitting through previous performances to not sit in the first couple of rows, but I had forgotten that this was a puppet show - the closer the better. But we could see just fine. A good 3/4 of the seats were filled by the time the show started, and in my very inaccurate estimate, I would say there were about 50-60 people there. They did of course provide a nice little bench in front of the first row for the kids to sit on - children's privilege.

We were wooed by accordian music for the ten minute wait, and lights out, the performance began. We got to see all the cast members, who lined up in costume before the puppet stage (which I'm sure it has a technical name), playing some small instrument before filing out to allow the puppets to take over. Sweet harmonica solo, tophat velvet man.

The puppets were great. According to the literature, there was a cache of puppets found in a Czech church, no history of how or when these puppets ended up here. They were dated to be about 100 years old. We had Faust, his servant, his servant's servant who provided the comic relief. A brief appearance of a tiny angel and tiny devil as Faust's conscience, many devils of all sizes, a couple of aquatic creatures and a dog. A royal couple (is it me, or did the queen look an awful lot like the late Princess Diana? Maybe I've been watching too much CNN lately) and an awesome cast of couriers.

The performance was wonderfully energetic, the voices of the devils and