Perhaps the National Childrens’ Puppet Theater wasn’t the best venue to stage the ill-fated sequel to Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Although the cast had impressive resumes, Clown & Snowman & The Terrible Dragon was a remarkable flop. Grown-ups felt that the nuances in the relationship between the ever-smirking clown and the dragon, played unconvincingly by an alligator, just didn’t ring true. Kids continually interrupted performances with their demands to know just how the snowman was able to exist in a tropical rainforest without melting. The show closed less than a week after opening.
Yes, the alligator playing the dragon was rather unconvincing, however! Getting that alligator into the harness to winch him into the rafters to play the dragon? Genius.
What can you expect when the characters are CROCHETED??? Nice honest knitted puppets would never appear in such an obvious flop.
I had these puppets as a child, together we put on a top-notch production of Sartre’s “No Exit.” The dragon played Inez, and she was brilliant if somewhat resistant to taking direction. So there.