5/30/2023 0 Comments Atlanta puppetry museum![]() Leach had the vision to save those puppets and has generously donated them to the Center for Puppetry Arts to be conserved and protected for generations to come. They had been almost completely preserved due to the sub-zero temperature of that fateful New Year’s Day. Miraculously, a few marionettes were recovered a few months after the fire. While no one was hurt in the fire, the company could not recover from the emotional and financial setback and NEMO closed on December 31, 1999. Within 22 minutes, the fire destroyed the 156-year-old structure along with nine complete opera productions and close to 235 marionettes. However, on January 1, 1999, a fire raged through NEMO’s elegant 150 seat theater. Ted Leach, founder and director of the New England Marionette Opera, planned to reprise NEMO’s production of “Porgy and Bess” in 1999. A total of 22 marionettes were used in the production, along with a company of eight puppeteers.Īdditional donations include a witch from “Macbeth” and Escamillo from “Carmen,” along with props and playbills from all of NEMO’s productions. Other puppets were modeled after Oprah, Boston Celtics star Robert Parish and MC Hammer, just to name a few. who portrayed the role in the 1959 film in which he starred along with Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandrige. The Sportin’ Life character is designed to look like Sammy Davis Jr. To perform the tragic love story set in the fictional Charleston neighborhood of Catfish Row, artistic director Roger DuPen modeled all of the marionettes after famous African Americans. Gershwin trustees attended a performance, and NEMO became the only company that was ever permitted to stage the opera with puppets as well as include it in its collection. The Gershwin estate insisted on seeing the production before it would grant permission for NEMO to add it to their repertoire. The collection includes figures from NEMO’s 1994 production of “Porgy and Bess,” the very first, fully staged production of George Gershwin’s opera performed exclusively with puppets. The Center for Puppetry Arts is proud to announce that it has acquired a number of marionettes and props from the New England Marionette Opera (NEMO) that are now on display in the World of Puppetry Museum’s Global Gallery.
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