Kimmel Center Blog

Salzburg Marionettes

The Salzburg Marionette Theatre will be at the Kimmel Center through Saturday, performing their interpretation of Mozart's Magic Flute and the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. One of my favorite scenes in The Sound of Music is the This tour is the premiere of Salzburg's Sound of Music. The marionettes for each show are begun one to two years before rehearsals for the stage show, with each figure being carved by the sculptors, and there are some 500 puppets "employed" by the theatre in total.

Let us know what you thought of the show.

I attended a performance of the Magic Flute featuring the Salzburg Marionettes last night.
I was VERY much looking forward to the evening. I expressed concern when purchasing tickets at the box office (3 weeks prior) that it might be difficult to see the marionettes from the second balcony, where the only seats I could possibly afford were located. I was vigorously assured it would be absolutely no problem. When the performance began, my first thought was "this must be a joke". It was impossible to see any detail of the puppets whatsoever. It was very much like watching a postage stamp sized movie, indeed it would have been a much better idea to rent a DVD of the puppets in performance. No live orchestra, very poor production values and concept, ridiculously bad seating. I left at intermission. I felt especially bad for the families also seated in the second balcony. If the family seated next to me paid full price for their tickets, they paid nearly $300 for a terrible experience. The children were restless and couldn't see. They kept asking, incredulously, if this was it!!! All the darling, excited, beautifully dressed for an extra special night out, children were straining to see, complaining, and very, very disappointed. As was I. I feel it is UNCONSCIONABLE for the Kimmel Center to take advantage of those of us less able to pay top dollar in this way. WHAT A HORRIBLE EVENING!!

I am writing to express my sincere dissapointment with the Kimmel Center for selling tickets that should NEVER have been sold. My whole family was excited to see the Marionettes but we were extremely dissapointed when we realized that we were missing half the show because visability was so poor in the 2nd Balcony. The Kimmel Center has the responsibilty to know their theatres and the performances, and you should have realized that patrons would not be able to see; tickets to the 2nd Balcony should not have sold for this performace! We want to expose our children to culture, and this show would have been a wonderful way to do so, had they been able to see and enjoy it! I think it would behoove you to refund everyone who had seats in this section!

My friend saw it, and loved it. They sat in the first row and her 7 yr old grandaughter knew all the songs. She loved the part where they pulled the curtain back to show the puppet handlers.