by Edith Cody-Rice
The 2024 edition of Puppets Up! launched last night with the splash and sparkle of Ben Durocher’s show A Canadian in New York. Before a packed house, Ben, a native of Stittsville and acclaimed puppeteer inspired from childhood by festival founder and master puppeteer Noreen Young sang, danced and chatted his way through a charming and entertaining evening. He focused on his rise from a gay child in very straight Stittsville to a New York entertainer, puppet wrangling on Sesame Street (where he won an Emmy award) and starring in Avenue Q in New York. Starring with him last night were a variety of Noreen Young’s iconic puppets – Gloria Gopher, Jacob Blue Jay from Under the Umbrella Tree and Mrs. Diddle from Hi Diddle Day, among others in a funny, witty delightful show. many in the audience were not aware that Mrs. Diddle was puppeted by famous Canadian puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, a friend of Ben. Ronnie was once the puppeteer behind Mrs. Diddle in Hi Diddle Day.
Highlights of the show were Beaver, a francophone puppet actor from Gatineau who was excited while explaining his attendance at a drag festival, Ben’s agent, Ms. Moo, a red lipsticked doyenne who performed with her bags (breasts) prominently displayed and embarrassed Ben by squirting milk (water) into the audience. And of course the greatest highlight was Ben himself who sang about his journey to New York, and hilariously performed on a large lazy susan turned by puppet builder Nick Belcourt in what Ben called “automation on a budget”.
This was the first performance of A Canadian in New York before a live audience. The enthusiastic audience gave Ben, in his sparkling performance suit, several standing ovations. Congratulations Ben and Puppets Us! for a stunning opening.
