Review: “˜Puppet Slam 2004′ anything but wooden
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 19, 2004 9:00 p.m.
This past Saturday at Zen Sushi, the Los Angeles Guild of
Puppetry presented “Puppet Slam 2004,” an off-the-wall
show full of creativity, laughs and strings.
Talented puppeteers in the show included Matt Brooks, Scott Land
and nationally recognized Paul Zaloom, who has won numerous awards,
including the prestigious Hand-in-a-Sock Award from Dummies
International. Each puppeteer exhibited immense originality in
their performances, completely capturing the audience’s
imagination.
The show opened with “Fatima,” which featured an
exotic Indian belly dancer as the title character. Her movements
were slow, sensual and completely guided by Brooks ““ an
amazing display of dexterity and control.
One of the highlights included Land’s puppet rendition of
Michael Jackson performing “Bad.” Once the music began,
plastic Jackson (which is hardly far from the truth) was dancing
and preening in the same way the real performer was in the
’80s. Land was able to capture Jackson’s eye movements
and hilarious hip thrusting, and even had the Moonwalk perfected.
Through the vivacity of the strings, Land made Jackson come
alive.
The show concluded with Zaloom, who lived up to his reputation
as a master of his craft with the best performance of the night.
Zaloom’s personal and innovative twist on “Punch and
Jimmy,” a gay version of the Punch and Judy show, kept the
audience in a constant roar of laughter. His performance included a
variety of puppet characters, including the Pope, an officer, a
hangman and a homosexual. Zaloom’s brilliant performance was
incredibly enticing, causing the audience to almost forget that the
puppet characters were not real.
The plot of his piece was to illustrate Punch’s encounter
with each puppet, and in doing so, violence ensued, as well as
political and social jokes that made the audience thirst for
more.
The display of ingenuity at “Puppet Slam 2004″ was
just a taste of a unique and too-often overlooked talent that is on
the rise. John Malkovich would be proud.
-Cristina De Leon
