World Famous Puppets Call Connecticut Home

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STORRS, CT - University of Connecticut puppet arts program head Bart Roccoberton Jr. surveyed a work table and quickly picked up an arm.

It wasn’t just any arm. It was the arm of famed Boston Pops Conductor Arthur Fiedler. Roccoberton showed an audience of media members where the baton would be placed and then demonstrated a few conductor’s moves.

The full Fiedler puppet, with his “other” set of arms, was a short distance away in another room.

"Music is a language of the puppet," he said, waving Fiedler’s arm about. "So it is fitting that we are collaborating with the Boston Pops."

There was a gleam in Roccoberton’s eyes when he said that. Even for a world-renowned program like puppet arts at UConn, this is big-time stuff.

The UConn puppet arts program, through alumni or collaboration, has had a hand in TV shows and stage and arena productions like “Sesame Street” and “Between the Lions” and “Frozen” and “The Lion King.”

There have been many other contributions Disney and DreamWorks productions and shows on and off-Broadway and a plethora of other kids shows on networks like Nick Jr. and PBS.

Boston Pops

But …

"It’s the Boston Pops," he said. "It’s an iconic name not only in Boston, but the country and I told the students that will look pretty good on a resume."

The collaboration is called, "Puppets Take The Pops," and is scheduled for May 21 and 24 in Boston’s Symphony Hall.

The Pops show's origin dates back to 2014 at a holiday Pops Concert at UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts that floored current Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart. A lot of it had to do with Roccoberton being, well, Roccoberton.

A tradition at the Pops’ holiday shows is a reading of “The Night Before Christmas,” usually done by a prominent member of the community with the orchestra playing.

Roccoberton was approached.

"And I said no," he said with a shrug and a wry smile. "I suggested why not have a puppet do it?"

UConn graduate student Sarah Nolan and a puppet she created for a social media marketing campaign pulled it off flawlessly.

"I've been doing holiday concerts with the Pops for 21 years. That puppet was one of the very best - if not the very best - we’ve had narrate with the orchestra," Lockhart said. "I met with Bart and said we really have to bring you to Boston to do something."

That something includes a rendition of "Peter and the Wolf," and some "new features" along a "duck tour" of Boston, Roccoberton said. The new features are a who’s who and what’s what of Boston, right down to a couple of former Red Sox players hanging with some puppets.

Arthur Fiedler

Then, there is Fiedler.

The May 24 performance is Arthur Fiedler Night.

"So we checked with Arthur’s son, Peter, while developing this puppet," Roccoberton said. "He described Arthur as a somewhat stern man. But there was a fun side to his conducting and we, created a happy Arthur Fiedler.

“And the show is going to be just that.”

But Oh, the pressure on Kalob Martinez, a third-year master’s degree student from Amarillo, Texas, who is handling the Fiedler puppet and performing his voice.

"I have done some pretty popular characters," Martinez said. "LIke Donald Trump. Arthur Fielder is different, though, because people actually liked him. He was part of a famous orchestra and part of a city. This has been a challenge."

But the puppet, strikingly similar to what Fiedler looked like in his heyday, looked pretty good itself during a run-through this week with Martinez mimicking his conducting.

"It’s going to be a memorable performance," Roccoberton said.

Cast members include two from Connecticut - Mac Cherny from West Hartford and Shane McNeal from Bristol.

Puppet Arts Program Celebrates 50 Years

The Pops collaboration comes during the 50th-anniversary of the UConn puppet arts program.

Puppetry classes were first offered at the university in 1964 by Professor Frank Ballard. He had joined the theater department faculty as a set designed eight years earlier.

After three years, puppetry class demand had grown so much, that enrollment had to be limited, UConn officials said.

UConn soon became one of just two universities in the nation to offer a bachelor’s degree in puppet arts and the only institution in the country to offer master’s degrees in the field.

In 1990, Roccoberton took over the program.

Since 1964 about 500 student productions have taken place.

But this latest is a little bit more special.

"We are always looking for new collaborators and inspiration and new partners - things that will really enhance the music by adding some sort of visual element that is not normally there," Lockhart said. "We’ve performed with puppets before, with the cast of Sesame Street in 2001. We have been adding greater emphasis to our family matinees during the Pops season and we said, 'Here is a tailor-made family show that we can do as a matinee and as an evening show.'"

He continued, "I think it’s a great collaboration. It’s going to be wonderful for our audiences and a great experience for the students involved. My only regret is that since I have to conduct it and I will be behind the puppets, I have the worst seat in the house."

Lockhart might have some conducting competition.

"The fielder puppet is really a lot of fun," Roccoberton said. "And he is very happy."

Photo Credits: No. 1, Ken Best, UConn; Nos. 2-4 Chris Dehnel