![]() So the Disney thing was a dream come true, but it was also really hard when it just went away. And then Chickybat was my Big Bird-style puppet, an 8-foot dragon with a unicorn horn, dragon wings, one arm leopard skin, the other zebra striped, turtle belly, fish tail, purple poodle fur, and these huge bowling shoes. And I pulled in this trailer called the Wahoo Wagon, and inside were my two rocket scientist squirrels Fuzz and Wuzz. The concept was that I’d come out in this ’59 Cadillac convertible, because it’s my favorite car and I thought maybe Disney could buy it for me. Flip was an Alaskan Husky modeled after Lauren Bacall, Flop was a Rottweiler modeled after Pearl Bailey, and Fly was a fox modeled after Amelia Earhart, and they would sing Andrews Sisters songs behind me. It was fantastic, but it changed a lot.Īfter the show, the characters had to remain with Disney. So I was putting together this kid’s show and I got this call from Kevin Frawley asking if I was interested in doing my own kid’s show, and I was like “No, I’d really rather continue catering and starving to death.” I had met Norman Lear a few years earlier, and he gave me some money to help me with my little workshop, and then someone from Disney came and said, “You know what? We think you’re just the weird, twisted Mary Poppins we need!” So I put something together and I created a show for Disney. So I decided to use Madame Velveeta and I created a demo at the same time that Disney was looking for someone to put on a show at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. Leslie Carrara-Rudolph: I’ve always wanted to be like Carol Burnett for kids, and Tim and Marty and Pam told me that I needed to do my own Pee-Wee-Herman-meets-Tracy-Ullman show. Still in the midst of her answer to our first question, we’ll just kick it straight to Leslie for part two of our interview! ** See her Folkmanis Firefly puppet.When we last left off, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph was right smack dab in the middle of her story about her rise to Muppety fame. ** Her puppets from The Firebird were seen in April 2013 in the closing ceremonial march for the LA Puppet Fest. Natural History Museum was at the opening day of the LA Puppet Festival at the Skirball. ** Her marionette Nibbles, the Saber-tooth kitten built for the L.A. ** Excerpts from The Firebird were featured at the Day of Puppetry at the LA Skirball Museum! Rocked the Hollywood Fringe Festival! Wondering what you missed out on? ** The Devil and Robin busked at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival playin’ some fiddle tunes! ** Her in-progress show, Forgotten Baggage, received a 2016 Henson Foundation Workshop Grant! ![]() Will have work in progress performances at the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival!Įxcerpts from her Firebird show were at Skirball’s Day of Puppetry on April 17th. (Yes, this is the bit where the singer gets whapped in the head.)įorgotten Baggage, Stories from the Willard Suitcases Watch Robin’s Dance Silks in action on the 89th Academy Awards! Just opened - I was puppet Designer for an amazing semi-staged “Magic Flute” with Director Rober Neu. She is glad to have a chance to share that magical moment whenever she can. For her, the greatest joy is experiencing that moment when bits of cloth, wood and string truly come to life for an audience. Following in the footsteps of master puppeteer Albrecht Roser, Robin Walsh seeks to take puppetry beyond the realm of children’s entertainment and return it to the multi-faceted, modern audiences of today. Puppetry is an ancient art that has a deep-seated appeal to audiences of all ages. She is currently Head of Puppets at Screen Novelties, a stop motion studio. She’ worked with her hero, Ray Harryhausen, on his last film and got to decapitate the real Rudolph puppet from the Rankin/Bass classic. Her many studies with world renowned puppeteer Albrecht Roser have opened up a whole new way of looking at and working with puppets, and is happy to join his constant search for Puppet Zen. She also designed, directed and performed two original puppet ballets with the Stanford University Orchestra, Stravinsky’s Firebird and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, as well as Rebel’s The Elements for the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado. She’s a recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant, and performed her work at last year’s Henson’s Puppets for Puppetry benefit as well as at the O’Neill Theatre Center. She’s worked in film, (Team America: World Police, Men In Black), television (SpongeBob, Family Guy) and stage. Her work has been seen around the world, from here in L.A. She has built, designed and performed everything from dance silks and sock puppets for the Oscars to Hollywood movie monsters. Robin Walsh discovered puppets on her first day of college, and has never looked back.
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