#2 Pero at Seattle Children's Theatre

After SCT hosted Yaser Khaseb and his performance from Iran, "Mysterious Gifts", I have really been looking forward to seeing "Pero" (also part of the Connecting Stories program which brings theatre from other countries to the US, this one from Holland). "Mysterious Gifts" was incredible, no words, but a mixture of dance & puppetry, and I thought it was really incredible. But it met a lot of controversy, with SCT being a Children's Theatre, what is appropriate in other countries for children is not considered appropriate here. Enter "Pero." The stories are that this show was much sexier in its original incarnation, but being in the U.S. and recommended for young children, the sex was cut out for the SCT production. I had heard A LOT about this show, and none of it was making much sense until I saw it last night.

It is a mixture of puppetry, music, and live action. The music is the best part. It is very much like an operetta for children. A nice mixture of jazz & classical music. The two live piano players (who are also characters, the sun & the moon) are wonderful, scoring the show and giving it pace. The puppets were fine. Not at all what I had imagined, but after about 15 minutes I was won over by them. At first they seem very simple. Eventually, though, you see there is so much going on, and the specificity is impressive.

The script itself was confusing and at times just insulting. It was really something else to see, very different than anything else I have seen. It's another clear example, though, that SCT doesn't just do shows for children, but shows that adults will also enjoy (and probably get another story out of).