By CRAIG HIGGINS
The Progress
Halloween arrived in summer as the Moapa Valley Library branch played host to a collection of scarecrows, spiders, and the Purple People Eater in the Old Logandale School on Friday, June 24. As part of the Library’s Summer Challenge 2022, the talents of Fratello Marionettes delighted the local kids at the event.
Hailing from the San Francisco-bay area, the two-person troupe performed for a crowd of about 50 children and parents who braved the midday heat to enjoy the show, dubbed Spooktacular.
The half-hour program lived up to its billing. Fratello founder Kevin Menegus and performer Samantha Lake trotted out a host of custom-made creatures, manipulating each marionette with a set of wires attached to fully-articulated limbs.
The show began with Menegus guiding a Frankenstein Monster who literally lost its head while lip-synching to the Trick-or-Treat classic, “The Monster Mash”. This performance yielded squeals of delight from the children in the hall.
Not skipping a beat, Menegus and Lake silently unveiled a dazzling array of cleverly constructed stringed figurines. A dreadlocked voodoo-styled skeleton knocked out a rhumba beat along dog-bone xylophones. Sashaying under taut strings, a witch marionette with a comically-long nose and wart-pocked chin danced to a rendition of “I Feel Pretty.” And one owl-eyed scarecrow flipped over, revealing a chorus line of five crows.
Other Spooktacular vignettes included a small bluebird hand-puppet devoured by a horned critter straight out of “Where the Wild Things Are.” Perhaps the highlight of the show was the aforementioned Purple People Eater. Strutting the stage, the eggplant-shaped marionette brought Sheb Wooley’s classic children’s tune to life, right down to playing a sax solo with the horn on its head. Kids who most likely had never heard this song bobbed their heads and cheered, clearly enthralled by the cheery creature’s performance.
Afterwards, Menegus stood on stage and answered questions about the troupe’s marionette-making process. The pair start with a “front and side view” drawing of the figure, fleshing out the concept. Each creation is “made of Styrofoam and cloth”, Menegus said.
Materials like these are chosen “so they’re very lightweight” and easy to manipulate on stage.
The troupe’s founder also brought out the scarecrow/crow chorus line, explaining how each component of the main marionette split into component parts. Judging from the excited eyes and rapt attentions of those present, Fratello Marionettes left a big impression on their mostly- youthful audience.
The library’s Summer Challenge continues through July 31 st . For those interested in more information about Fratello Marionettes, visit their website at https://fratellomarionettes.com/.
