Previews: CHOO CHOO REVUE at Bob Baker Marionette Theater

Sometimes— especially in entertainment that reaches out to a young audience— being ‘old-fashioned’ can be viewed as a bad thing. But at Bob Baker Marionette Theater, the stuff that’s been working since the theatre’s opening in 1963 is at no risk of changing anytime soon. There’s something so magical about the iconic puppeteers clad in red from head to foot to blend in with the carpet and velvet drapes that cover the space. At a recent performance of Winter Wonderland, when a 2-year-old birthday boy was greeted with a gift from a dog named Aloysius, the effectiveness of this old school theatre magic was on full display for the audience. The little boy’s attention was locked immediately on the gentlemanly figure of the dog as he tipped his hat and offered a treat, and his eyes never once wandered up to the red-clad artist pulling the strings.

From the moment the show started, in a revamped production by directors Kahbia Sada and Caden Healander, there was not a murmur of disquiet from the babies in the audience. The holiday special is full of plenty to keep them pointing and waving, while also giving lots for the unaccompanied adult patrons in the theatre to gawk at. With spinning dreidels, regal skaters, a chorus of rambunctious puppies, and a dancing line of reindeer, there is no shortage of eye-catching marvels. Some of the simplest moments conjured the biggest responses from the enraptured audience: an odd snail with glamorous makeup inching her way across the stage, or (a Bob Baker standard) a flirtatious chanteuse cat teasing a man in the audience. Whether you are looking for an outing with little ones or an excursion with friends, there are few places in Los Angeles who can reliably deliver as fun an hour of your afternoon as BBMT.

After the show, I was treated to a sneak peek behind the scenes at Choo Choo Revue, BBMT’s first fully original show in forty years which will premiere in May 2026. The show has been a dream for the theatre to undertake for a while now, but the development of the material— including the construction of roughly 50 new puppets (for context: each of the puppets takes about 300 hours of labor to build) was put off until the theatre knew they had the resources to achieve the full potential of the project. Taking the form of an imaginary train ride, the performance will feature meticulously-crafted marionettes representing flora and fauna of regions across an imaginary landscape fused with whimsy and a cartoonish sensibility. The puppets I saw in the workshop featured an unbelievable amount of hand-crafted details. An anthropomorphic stack of suitcases was carefully stitched from vintage leather and featured bronze hinges and burnished clasps. A lovely pink bird was covered in fleece feathers that had been painted individually in a gradient. Included in the Winter Wonderland show are a team of skiing evergreen trees who will feature in a portion of the Revue. With puffy jacket sleeves and winter caps atop their heads, the trees manage a surprising level of expressiveness without any facial features.

A lot has changed since Bob Baker put together his last original show. He used to peruse record stores to unearth music that could inspire different segments. The team carrying on his legacy may be going about the work with different technologies and methods, but the heart of his theatre is carried on through their commitment to excellence in engineering and design and a continued commitment to old-fashioned theatrical magic.