About the Puppets
Eric Carle and Jonathan Rockefeller
Thank you for joining us for The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show! A frequent question we had from Metro Theater Company audiences was, “Who made the puppets?” The answer is the amazing Jonathan Rockefeller of Rockefeller Productions! Enjoy this interview with Jonathan about the process of creating The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show. Be sure to check out more behind the scenes information and family friendly activities related to the production in our Educator’s Guide.
What made you create The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show?
I have a great fondness for picture books. When they’re done well, they distill very complex ideas down to their simplest visual form. Great stories told well at the right age instill a love of reading for life, and for me The Very Hungry Caterpillar was the first book I remember reading. I still actually have my copy, albeit it’s very dog-eared right now.
Look at The Very Hungry Caterpillar. A lot of readers will think it’s about a caterpillar getting fat, but the book encapsulates the days of the week, counting, nutrition, metamorphosis—all with very simple repetition and striking illustrations. I loved the challenge of bringing four of Eric Carle’s stories to life with all their complexity.
What was the journey or process into creating a show?
There were a lot of sketches and illustrations: we began with storyboards to communicate with Eric Carle what we wanted to do, then sketches of every puppet interpreting Eric’s illustrations into three-dimensions. These sketches were used so the puppet builders could interpret and work out mechanisms to make the puppets move.
There are 75 puppets in the show and each one has different abilities—some of our birds have wings that “flap,” others have beaks that open and close, and others have a “gliding” motion. From an artistic perspective we worked out the primary function that the animal needs to have in the story and designed the puppet around that.
The most critical thing was assembling the right team of creatives to go on this journey: composers, set designer, lighting director, and puppet builders, all of whom were able to use their own abilities to push the show even further. The puppeteers are amazing too—they really bring to life all the characters.
Were there any difficulties constructing a stage production such as this one?
Our biggest challenge was to ensure what we created was faithful to the books. Eric Carle’s illustrations are iconic, and children are relentlessly unforgiving when you meddle with something they love! Our role was to take two-dimensional characters and find what they look like outside of the pages of the book. For the hungry caterpillar, we had to create what he looks like from the front and the back—perspectives that are never seen in the book. And Brown Bear is drawn in a very “Picasso-esque” fashion which meant we could see many perspectives at once, so we had to round out the image to make it a believable puppet.
How did you decide on the order of the stories in the show?
The Hungry Caterpillar is our grand finale—the show’s namesake and the perfect finish to the show as the magnificent butterfly. The beginning of Hungry Caterpillar starts with “In the light of the moon…” so it was a perfect transition from the night scene in The Very Lonely Firefly. I thought Brown Bear was an excellent beginning to the show as it introduces each animal one at a time—a fun story where everyone knows the words. That left the more traditional story of 10 Little Rubber Ducks to take the second place.
What do you hope audiences will get out of seeing The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show?
For so many people, this is their very first chance to go to the theater EVER, just as The Very Hungry Caterpillar was their first book. I believe each audience member will see that theater is a great way of telling stories. I also think everyone will love the other three stories presented: Brown Bear, 10 Little Rubber Ducks and The Very Lonely Firefly and I hope the show will foster a love of theater and a love of books. We place great emphasis on being faithful to the books and want to further everyone’s appreciation for storytelling.
Rockefeller Productions invites you to continue the fun and stay in touch with their upcoming productions around the world!