The Secrets, Tricks and Cheats That Make a Puppet Scary in Broadway’s ‘Life of Pi’
Gordon Cox Theater Editor Here are two wildlife facts you won’t learn in “Life of Pi”: Orangutans are quiet, and zebras stay silent when they’re attacked. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: You’d never guess either of those things from Broadway’s “Life of Pi,” because the creators and puppeteers of the show use all manner of tools and tricks to make their animal puppets feel life-like — including having them behave in ways that aren’t life-like at all. “Orangutans are very quiet beings,” explained Olivier Award-winning puppeteer Fred Davis on the new episode of Variety’s theater podcast, Stagecraft. “But if we had a very quiet orangutan for the duration of its time onstage, it wouldn’t have the same impact or believability as we need it to.”