A while back (just over a year, to be exact) New Horizon Community Theatre presented Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods Jr". For those who aren't familiar with the show, it is basically a handful of Fairy Tales (Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.) combined together in an interesting story about The Baker and his Wife and their quest for items to break a spell. One of the items they need to locate is "a cow as white as milk" and that was me!
It was my job to not only play but design AND build this cow. This was (and still is) this biggest puppet I've ever made, she had moving eye lids, and a hole in the throat so she could eat. I spent the entire duration of the show hunched over with my right hand operating the head, which as you can imagine got quite warm under the stage lights (I even had a fan inside with me but that didn't really help), so at the end of the show I was drenched. But in the end it was probably the funniest role I've played (to date).
I had possibly the simplest costume to get into and would do so when "places" was called, typically I could get in with only one person assisting me I would then make my way to the wings to wait for the lights to go down, where "Cinderella" (Ellie Bird) would give the cow a kiss and the cow would flutter it's eyelids at her. By that point the lights would go down and I would (with a guide) make my way to center stage where I would be at the opening of the show. I stayed in the costume for the entire duration of the show, however I would take my hood off anytime I was off stage.
This costume actually doubled as a second cow after Milky White had "died" (which was the funniest part of the whole show, I've had quite a few people tell me they loved it when I died) to transform into the second cow a bell was placed around the neck and baby powder was sprinkled on the back (to be the flour). The "Witch" (Jessi Bridges) brought the cow back to life she then ordered "The Baker" (Matt Oleson), and "The Baker's Wife" (Lacey Amason) to feed the other objects they collected to the cow which the did. The audience screamed with laughter as "The Baker" shoved "A Slipper as Pure as Gold", "A Cape as Red as Blood", and "Hair as Yellow as Corn" down the cow's throat. I was trying to keep from laughing pretty much the whole time I was on stage in the last to scenes I've mentioned...
So take a look at the pictures and know that inside that cow is a very uncomfortable puppeteer sweating, but enjoying it all! Tune in next week for the next installment, you'll never know what's coming next (but then again, neither do I... )
