War Horse on stage

Jared was kind enough to take me to see the theatrical production of War Horse at the Boston Opera House this Friday. I've wanted to see it for ages, partially because of the reviews, and partially because I was so astounded by the amazing puppets. They did not disappoint; they moved so much like real horses it was uncanny; you almost forgot they were puppets. The puppeteers, I was amazed to learn, were actors with no previous puppeteering credits, it was just a combination of their training and the ingenious design of the horse rig that allowed for such a convincing performance. The show was such an amazing use of the theatrical medium, conveying the motion of the running horses with passing setpieces even though they were just moving in place, and even portraying an entire Panzer tank rampaging through the trenches. It was really mind-blowing. And the show was much better than the movie. The film, though it did some things well and I enjoyed much of it, was too overblown-- all the sweet moments and all the tragic moments were turned up to eleven, and whenever you just began to recover from the latest punch to the gut, it threw another tragedy at you and punched you again. The play was more toned down, more believable and less histrionic, and I think it worked much better. Plus I love horse stories, especially when they're not squishy little girl tales, so a period piece involving the nobility conveyed on man by loving a horse was right up my alley. I'm so grateful to Jared for taking me, and I was so happy to share the experience with him.