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Bob Baker Marionette Theatre
Rating Details »
Category: Performing Arts [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Silver Lake, Westlake1345 W 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 250-9995
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
19 reviews for Bob Baker Marionette Theatre
Um helloooooo: AMAZING!!!
You won't understand until you go.
If you like puppets, you should go.
If you like kitsch, you should go.
If you are a parent and hate all the mediocre entertainment for your children, YOU SHOULD GO and bring the kiddos.
If you have a wacky sense of humor, you should go.
If you like feeling trapped in the 60s or 70s, YOU SHOULD GO.
Basically, best place ever and totally worth the $20 or however much it is. AND FREE ICE CREAM AT THE END! My friend and I even noticed IT WAS VEGAN.
Heaven.
Thank god this place didn't go under as was speculated a year or two ago - there would have been an empty place in my heart where the Bob Baker Marionettes live...
You really can't see another show like this in LA. They change it up every few months and the kids just eat it all up. I would go here even if I didn't have a kid, but luckily, I'm able to use my four year old as an excuse for going six times a year. It has an old time feel to it, and they've kept the tradition of serving soft serve ice cream and cookies for the kids post-show. I hope this place is around for many, many years to come.
If you plan on coming, I suggest you buy your tickets online. It's hard to tell when a show will sell out, which happens more often than you'd think.
For kids (of course, the intended audience), I'd say this gets 4-5 stars.
I was a little skeptical that the kids in the audience, some of whom knew how to use Mom's iPhone better than she did, would dig this old school entertainment. They're used to CGI and talking toys and all manner of hi-tech crap. A show where you can not only see the strings but the puppeteers controlling them? There's gonna be rioting in the aisles, right?
But to my amazement, the minute those marionettes came out, they were thrilled for a good 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the show went on for about an hour and 10, during which the natives became squawky and restless. But hey, 45 minutes of happy kids, not bad.
Also, it's remarkable something like this is still up and running in Los Angeles (since 1961), the town of disposable culture. There are parents who came here as kids and can now share that magic with their own children. That's pretty cool.
Now, for the adults -- depending on your personality, it's 1-4 stars.
Going in, I thought hey, they've been doing this since 1961. Every show has a theme (ours was the Halloween Spooktacular). So surely they must focus on a story of some kind and not just wave puppets around, right?
Uh, not so much.
Maybe some of the other shows have a structure, but this was just one long acid trip of disjointed, effed up weirdness. Apparently in this world, Halloween is mostly about UFOs and space aliens. And, um, disco. And little kids in nightgowns singing about wanting to be giraffes. WTF? Yes, a few ghosts and dancing skeletons popped up, but far fewer than you would expect for a Halloween show.
It's also pretty clear that nothing has changed in this particular program since at least 1976 -- the Star Wars theme pops up in a few places, and the music is stuff my grandparents listened to -- Purple People Eater, Hernando's Hideaway, etc.
Moment when I really thought someone had dropped something in my drink -- a stuffed scarecrow comes out to sing and is joined by... singing watermelons. Not pumpkins, not squash or some other fall type product. No, watermelons. Again, WTF?
Okay, some adults will be entranced with the kitsch factor and the bizarreness of it all, but an hour long show that's only tied together by the fact that hey, there are marionettes on stage is going to be taxing to anyone over the age of 5 or 6. The mom sitting next to us jabbed my husband in the arm at the halfway mark and asked how long the show was. When he responded about an hour, she sighed, "It just seems so LONG." Couldn't have said it better myself.
For adults, I'd say half of the fun (to what degree there is fun) is watching kids react to the marionettes.
So, If you're feeling like killing some time, getting in touch with your inner child, love early 60s kitsch, you'll be fine. But if you're hoping for something that works on more than a kiddie level or is, I don't know, coherent, well, keep looking.
One of those unique things that you hope never, ever goes away. A slice of Americana that gets more enduring and charming with each passing year. A total LA original, for kids and adults alike. Support this place, it deserves to keep entertaining people for a very, very long time.
I think that is an institution and it should be supported. It is something that Los Angeles is renowned for. Our children have used it for seventy years. But it's not just fun for children.
We like the whole marionette routine, from the old fashioned music and the crazy creatures to the ice cream in little cardboard cups in the party room after the show.
We like Bob Baker, too. He called me on my birthday this year, which was a sweet surprise.
Yes, I like everything about the Bob Baker show. It should be maintained for the next generation to come and the generation after that. They are certainly deserving of the city making them a landmark. Go see the puppets' show and tell them hello from my husband and me!
Bob Baker's Marionette Theatre is one of the oldest theatres in the country and still maintains its original decor.. a whimsical little puppet palace with red velvet curtains and low-lit crystal chandeliers. The interesting thing about Bob Baker's is that the stage is actually the floor. Kids (and some adults) make a large circle around the room floor and the show is played around the audience. Puppets will literally dance on the kids' laps and fly above their heads. The only rule is that you can't touch the puppets (which is incredibly hard to resist, especially for the little ones).
I came here to see the Nutcracker a couple of years ago... I am a huge lover of anything dealing with puppets and my boyfriend found out about this place and took me here as a surprise. It was a fantastic show... interactive and innovative since they did some alterations to the original Nutcracker story (i.e. disco dancing and furry creatures). I plan on going here again soon and it is hard to get info on their adult shows. I called the given contact person for one of the nights last year and I never got a call back. Some events I think are mainly open to those in the puppetry guild...
Here's a link to the guild's website, for all things puppet (and it has info on Bob Baker's special events too):
http://www.lapuppetgui.../
I went here today after an absence of what was probably 25 years or more. This time I went with my two nieces, who though they started to cry every time one of the puppets came near us, (one sat on my lap) LOVED the show. It was every bit as fabulous as I remembered, as was the ice cream they STILL give you at the end of the show.
The theater is having financial problems. Go check out a show, with or sans kids (there were definitely a few sets of adults sans children, and one of them even sat on the carpet with us!) They're having adult nights for fund raisers, but darned if I can get any info on them. If and when I do, I'll keep y'all posted :)
have not seen the marionettes since i was a youth, but the theatre is going strong & continues as a legendary puppet theatre, so am awarding four thumbs' up based on my childhood visits, and contemporary reports.
:)
Once upon a time, my parents not only made the puppets but performed them as well.
The darkness of the backstage area and how the velvet curtains felt as I brushed up against them when I passed. How the adults could never understand why I didn't want to sit out in the audience and enjoy the show like all the other children. I wanted to see things from a
different angle, even at this young age. One where I would feel the
darkness and watch the faces of the children as my mother and father
moved among them.
Sometimes I would sit in the audience on a red velveteen carpet. I
would sit alone and always some parent would ask me where my own
parents were and I told them to wait and watch and I will show them.
Many an adult, (always women), would invite me to sit in their laps, I
was like a life size porcelain doll that everyone wanted to play with
and hold. My mother and father would pass by my end of the circle, the puppets never failed to acknowledge me. I would turn up my face to the person I was sitting near and whisper, "There is my mother."
The workshop was a playroom. Not one where I moved about and really played, but in my head I did. I loved to touch the unfinished
costumes, the smooth wooden parts of the marionettes being carved and the shavings of wood that littered the floors and tables.
I frequented the kitchens there, hoping to entice the workers into
giving me an extra cookie. There is a room where many children had birthday parties and I liked to sit in the room, by myself at a table
and watch them all, with their smiling faces lit up with candles. The
cakes were pretty and I sometimes was offered a piece. If not the
kitchen girls brought out to me a cookie and one of those little cups
of ice cream, the kind you eat with a wooden spoon.
I go now and it still smells the same.
Pure, unadulterated magic!!! It takes me back to the days when I had Holly Hobby sheets and my plush unicorn was my favorite possession (okay, maybe some of that is STILL accurate).
It really is suspended in time and I loved every moment. I have a tendency to bring people here for my birthday, because it's about the only time I can talk my friends into it.
I once saw the Nutcracker, which was an amazing psychedelic experience. Of course, overgrown kid that I am, squeezed into the last spot on the floor with the kids (don't believe that little girl that told you I elbowed her out of the way) and when the Dance of the Flowers came on...it was mesmerizing.
Also of note, the wonderful cups of ice cream served with those little wooden spoons. The goodness. The joy. I hope it never closes and, despite my wanting to keep it all to myself, I want lots of people to go here so it will stay open forever.
If one lives in the Los Angeles area one MUST venture into this puppet world at least once! Please! Prices for each show are $15 and you need to make a reservation which may seem like a hassle but I promise you it will be worth it! Each show runs about 30 minutes long and they usually only do one show at a time which changes seasonally. Check out the website to see what's playing.
The Bob Baker experience takes you back! It is like sitting on your shag carpet too close to the t.v. watching David & Goliath cool. The records they use, yes, records, are of that 1950's come along and travel with me to a magical land variety. The puppeteers are local kids who are trained in the art and try all you want, they won't let just anyone apprentice. I desperately wanted to be a puppeteer but alas they woudln't let me.
There will often be a group of school kids at the show which really adds to the experience. If you don't like kids, what are you doing at a puppet show? After the show you get to sit in a tiny room and partake of free ice cream in a plastic cup eaten with a wooden "spoon". Don't leave without perusing the giftshop. Where else can you get an official Bob Baker Marionettes patch?
weekly shows are Tuesday-Friday at 10:30 am
weekend shows are at 2:30
So go! It is cooler than Froozles!
I love the Bob Baker Marionette Theater ever since I first visited there last year. The show was fantastic and I really liked the fact that the stage was really the floor. The puppeteers were all dressed in black, so as not to distract from the beautifully colored marionettes and what was cool was how they'd use the puppets to interact with the audience, kids and adults alike. In fact, a male member in our group had an ostrich marionette wrap its neck around his neck. Now that was one flirty bird! :)
As for the show itself, I also saw "Fiesta" and it just flowed so well. Lots of movement, music and color. It's not hard to be enthralled when you see skeleton marionettes that glowed in the dark, a marionette playing piano, a male and female Mexican dancer dancing together as a couple and so much more.
After the show, we were shown into the "party" room where everyone got a cup of ice cream as part of the cost into the Theatre. The room itself was painted in candy colors and the walls were "wrapped" like presents with large ribbons and bows. You can also purchase your own puppets towards the back of the room.
For my visit there, I actually made special arrangements for a Q&A with the puppeteers as well as a backstage tour. We learned quite a lot of info about the history of the Theatre and of Bob Baker himself. We also found out that a lot of the puppeters were high school students who actually do what they do for extra credit. Now that's what I call a cool extra credit project.
After our talk, we went behind the curtains into the backstage area and believe me, it wasn't very big. However, it was really cool to be able to see all the marionettes up close and the puppeteers even took a couple of marionettes for some of us try our hand at. Believe me, it's not as easy as it looks.
Overall, it was a great time at the Bob Baker MarionetteTheatre and I hope that some of you will visit it some time.
This was an experience.
Oooooh! It's so ghostly and mysterious.
The theatre is beautiful.
A perfect memory for my 6 year old birthday girl...
...a cross gender, Phyllis Diller marionette, 3 feet tall singing "Send in the Clowns".
One of the trippiest things I've experienced in a long time. The folks that run the place are really nice and sincere. If you call yourself a true Angeleno, you have to check the place out. We had my girl's birthday party there. Both the kids and their parents loved it, but for entirely different reasons (I hope).
Bob Baker is a living pioneer when it comes to the world of marionettes, yet unless you were a kid living in Los Angeles, you've probably never heard of the guy. His little puppet theater is in a nebulous section of Los Angeles somewhere between Silverlake and downtown. It's a very non-descript looking building, but inside it contains an afternoon or evening of fun for kids of all ages.
Did that come out sounding cheesy? Good, because BBMT is slightly cheesy, in a sort of kitchy-1950's way. The song choices are somewhat dated, and the marionettes even look like something you'd see on the Howdy Doody show. The marionettes are controlled by people in black that walk the characters around; this can be disconcerting if you're used to the kind of puppetry when one doesn't see the person controlling the puppet. The shows are fun, but I have to second the yelper who said that there are definitely puppets in some shows who are subtly stereotyped characters that may not work with people who are overly PC.
I don't see how you could be a kid and not love this place, though I can imagine that the puppetry might be scary for very small children. (They need to be old enough to sit through a whole show of it.) The puppeteers have their characters do all sorts of interactions with the audience: I once got a singing cat on my lap and it was great!
My favorite part of BBMT when I was a kid was that after the show, they would take groups back to the marionette workshop, which was uber-cool and then they'd serve ice cream in a cute party room off to the side. All the delights of kid-dom under one roof!
The BBMT Website is here: http://www.bobbakermar.../
A cool documentary on Bob and the Theater is here (scroll midway down the page and click on the BBM program): http://www.kcet.org/li...
As much as I love puppets and Jim Henson, I had never heard of Bob Baker until some friends took me to a Celebration of Bob Baker by Charles Phoenix. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was AWESOME!
Anytime I think about it, or tell someone about it, the memories bring a HUGE smile to my face! GO!!!
That night Bob Baker himself performed and he is amazing! His apprentices are great as well. From the website it looks like we saw an extended version of the show Fiesta! It was all different musical numbers done with puppets.
Charles Phoenix told some of Mr. Baker's history beforehand, and he originally performed the puppets being hidden, but got tired of people trying to sneak and peek, and decided to perform in the open. The Marionettes and their costumes are amazing!!!!
How great that someone like Mr. Baker is passing down his craft. and that there are individuals who want to learn it. If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would!
i was here not too long ago for a class project so i ended up watching one of bob baker's puppet shows without knowing too much history about his puppets or the theatre. in any case, if you are interested in more info, here's his website: http://www.bobbakermar....
the marionettes are very old and detailed... in a chucky-esque kind of way which made me simultaneously intrigued and freaked out at the same time. i can imagine it being entertaining for a sector of children, but i did see a few kids cower in fear when the puppets were whipped too close to them. the show itself was enjoyable and they did a nice job of incorporating adult humor into it's content so it wasn't a bore.
this theatre is a bit run down and is located close to downtown. they have a convienent parking lot for you to park in and the show itself is housed in a small building. you can hold parties there and i can imagine it being super fun for a kiddie birthday party.
it was a treat to find this place. gems like these in l.a. come few and far between.
I went there as a child and have never quite recovered. Eye level marionettes hovering around you , while strange hippies stand above you. it was like being gang raped by the Thunderbirds. so......5 stars for my love/hate relationship with puppets. though hate may not be accurate.Fear. Thats the word. Fear.
Truly a unique experience. I came here as part of Charles Phoenix's Downtown Disneyland Tour. I was really impressed with the puppeteers, none of whom where even old enough to drink. I'm not a big fan of puppets but you can't help but appreciate the art form after watching this show and talking to some of the people who work here. Also, you can't beat ice cream and cake in the party room next door. Major throwback to childhood.
