WINTER PARK, Fla. – About 25 students at Aloma Elementary in Winter Park are learning all about puppetry in conjunction with Disney’s “The Lion King” musical that’s currently on tour at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando.
Thanks to a partnership with the arts center and Orange County Public Schools, the students have been learning all about how to make puppets for the past several weeks. As part of the program, the students also got to see a live performance of the musical. Their puppets will then be on display in the lobby of the Dr. Phillips Center from May 5 to May 18.
[Video below goes inside classroom]
Amber Ballard has been the art teacher at Aloma Elementary, a Title 1 school, for the past 23 years. She says her students have never had an experience like this.
“I think it’s been great. When we see the puppets, they are amazing. They got to choose between a sock puppet, a hand puppet, or a marionette puppet. So they’re all kind of a variety, but I really kind of hope that they get the connection between art and art careers,” said Ballard. “I’m hoping it makes them realize that if they’re not a visual artist that maybe performing art is their thing.”
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Danny Grummich, the actor who plays Pumbaa, recently met with the students to answer questions about how to bring a puppet to life on stage.
“Oh, it’s incredible! You hear them laughing and just so involved in the show and the response when they come to see the show, it’s so great to kind of sit down and be able to talk it through and just really kind of see the kind of twinkle in their eye and hopefully inspire the next generation of actors,” said Grummich.
Grummich shared with the students that “The Lion King” musical uses more than 200 puppets, anywhere from a body puppet like his Pumbaa costume to a small shadow puppet. Grummich said his puppet is one of the largest on stage at about eight feet long and weighing about 50 pounds.
“I have mechanics on the inside that control the nose and the eyes with my right hand and there’s a bar in there that I can move the mouth up and down to talk. There’s also a bar on the bottom that I can maneuver the head right and left, and then the tongue is sort of my left hand that I pull in and out,” said Grummich.
Khristy Chamberlain, the education manager at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, said outreach programs like these are critical to the center’s vision of creating arts for every life.
“The Dr. Phillips Center really wants to engage students in all forms of art. So, we’re not just a place to come see amazing shows, we also have so many opportunities within our building. There’s the school, there’s opportunities to learn what it’s like to work within a big company like this, to see what other roles are in the theatrical industry,” said Chamberlain. “So particularly this program, as we’re focusing on visual arts, what does that mean when it comes to a performing arts center? So, this is letting the kids know that there are other opportunities in performing arts. Who makes the costumes? The graphic design, marketing, building the scenery? That’s all the visual artists that started there.”
For students, it’s connecting the dots to a whole new world of careers.
“I feel like it’s like a really good opportunity,” said fifth-grade student Amaiyah Soto, who says she wants to be a singer or an actor when she grows up.
Disney’s “The Lion King” is performing in Orlando from April 23 to May 18 with a variety of performance times. Student Rush tickets are available, meaning students can get up to two tickets for $30 in person at the box office two hours before the show for some performances April 23 - May 18 in the Walt Disney Theater, subject to availability.
For a list of full details and show times, visit www.DrPhillipsCenter.org, and for News 6 Anchor Lisa Bell’s review of the performance, click here.