String and Shadow’s giant puppets go back stage at opera house in new production

String and Shadow Puppet Theater’s summer shows have taken audiences to the clouds, down a wishing well and into outer space. For its sixth annual al fresco production, the Olympia troupe is visiting a Gilded Age opera house with “Night at the Grand Opera,” opening Friday, Aug. 15.

“I was reading about old opera houses, and I got inspired by all of the stories that went along with them,” said Emily McHugh, who leads String and Shadow with Donald Palardy. “They had such an interesting history and such colorful characters that were fun to write a play around.

“The Gilded Age was a very over-the-top, lavish time period,” she added. “There are a lot of similarities we can draw between that time (in the 1870s-1890s) and this current time.”

There’s a play within the play — an opera about the Trojan War — and the action happens not only on stage at the opera house but also off stage and way off stage. Many of the characters are more-or-less clownish human beings, including not only performers and opera-house staff but also a king and a group of industrialists.

Others are insects. In fact, the show — described as a frenzied romp on a candlelit night — will be narrated by Fly on the Wall (Anthony Szabo), a name that gives a sample of the humor for which String and Shadow has become known.

“The opera house is a very dramatic work environment,” McHugh said. “We’ve had a lot of fun with the characters.”

The puppeteers inhabiting the characters are McHugh, Palardy, Jordan Richards, Kai Johnson, Kelsey Magnuson, Aurora Sonenshine, Hailey Hubbard, Jordanna Averett, Harrison Hannon, Jennica Martinez, Velva Kelley and Christine Yorba.

Puppeteers — and four volunteers who’ll help each weekend — will also be manipulating set pieces, helping to fill out the set of the opera house and the set within a set for the show with the show.

“The set is quite elaborate,” McHugh said. “Old opera houses have so many statues and costumes and so much detailing on the walls.

“The last couple of years, we’ve used the same frame of a set and added to it. The set we built this year is pop-up book inspired. It opens and reveals different kinds of pages.”

The show will also incorporate mechanical theater — set pieces that move, like the moving waves that gave an ocean-like effect on stage beginning in the 16th century.

“That uses a lot of flats,” said Palardy, who serves as the company’s technical director. “We’re trying to build scenes with a lot of flats. It’s a life-size paper-doll type of aesthetic. A lot of flat set pieces will come out to build scenes.”

There was time to plan and build more complicated sets because this production debuted in April at the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival. There are new elements in the Olympia production, too, including stilt walking puppets.

“Night” will also feature lighting, which the outdoor shows haven’t had in several years. “The reason we are doing the show later in the season and having performances start at 7:30 instead of 6:30 is that we wanted the shows to cross sunset,” McHugh said. “The final half hour will happen in relative darkness, so we can use illuminated shadowy elements.”

One thing missing this year will be live music. Instead, pre-recorded music, much of it operatic selections from the Library of Congress, will accompany the action.

“It’s all pre-programmed,” Palardy said. That adds to the puppeteers’ work since they are trying to be precise about timing.

“The direction I give during rehearsal is that we’re trying to create a live version of a Looney Tunes episode,” he said.

He’s referring to the way the puppeteers will work to move with the music — but Bugs Bunny cartoons, of course, incorporated opera.

String and Shadow Theater’s ‘Night at the Grand Opera’

What: String and Shadow’s sixth annual all-ages giant-puppet extravaganza will take audiences behind the scenes of an opera house.

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Aug. 15-17, Aug. 22-24 and Aug. 29-31 and Sept. 5-7, and 4 p.m. Sunday Aug. 17, 24 and 31 and Sept. 7

Where: Decatur Woods Park, 1015 Decatur St. SW, Olympia

Tickets: $20 suggested donation, with cash, PayPal and Venmo accepted. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

More information: https://www.stringandshadow.com/

This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.