The Little Engine That Could™ Still Delights Families
Posted in Exhibitions, Holiday Train Show, Programs and Events on December 10 2009, by Plant Talk
Master Puppeteer Brings Children’s Storybook to Life
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Ralph Lee, a master puppeteer, adapted the story and created the puppets for The Little Engine That Could™ Puppet Show at The New York Botanical Garden. Photo of Ralph Lee by Brett Vermilyea |
In the fall of 1995, I was asked by The New York Botanical Garden to create a show for children as a companion program to its annual Holiday Train Show. So I asked myself, “What children’s story has to do with both trains and the holiday season?” The Little Engine That Could™! It had been one of my favorite stories as a kid.
I fashioned locomotives for the trains in the story using cardboard as the primary material, wood for strength, and a lot of found objects—things you might see lying around the house—for details. These would give each train its own face as in the illustrations of the original storybook: the Broken Down Train, the Streamliner, the Big Strong Locomotive, the Rusty Dusty Dingy Engine, and of course, the Little Engine That Could. I also made small puppets to represent the toys that are being delivered to the other side of the mountain: a teddy bear, Raggedy Ann, some dancing dolls, and a monkey.
The trains travel on imaginary tracks up and down the aisles, through the audience, and onto the small stage of the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall, where we perform. Everyone joins in making the sounds of each train as it barrels down the “tracks.” The Lecture Hall has proven to be the perfect space for this show. Because it is an amphitheater, the sightlines are excellent and it has a cozy feeling, even though it can accommodate an audience of 400.
For that first show I engaged three actors—Jonathan Cross, Tom Marion, and Brian Voelcker—with whom I’d worked for many years. They contributed ideas for the script and the staging, and 14 years later we are still happily performing in it. Sometimes I play Rusty Dusty myself. The liveliness and enthusiasm of the audience keeps us fresh and on our toes.
Many families come back to Little Engine year after year. It often seems the parents get at least as involved as their children when we all chant together, “I think I can, I think I can!”
Performances of The Little Engine That Could™ Puppet Show are held on Saturdays and Sundays through December 20 at 2 and 3 p.m. and daily, December 26–January 1, at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. in the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall.
