Happy, Lions, Puppets, Canada and USA

[Colin Plant]

Hello everyone.

I am not a regular poster (or is it postee?), but am a regular reader.

Anyhow... and I hope this is of interest to any of you.
(Perhaps a student will one day consider this a MA topic.)    :-)

I found this week to be a rather interesting week in Canadian theatre.

The Abstract:

Two shows open in Ontario which feature puppets, or marionettes, or
(insert term here), Burkett's HAPPY and Disney's THE LION KING.

The not so Abstract:

Fascinating metaphors for the difference between mainstream US theatre
and the non-existent mainstream Canadian theatre.  Lion King attempts to
be all things to all people, using magnificent (thanks Kate Taylor)
megamusical tricks, whereas Happy relies upon story telling and human
craft.

Sadly, Lion King will be seen by hundreds of thousands in a unlimited
run and Happy will be seen by several thousand.

How can we compete?  We can't.  Theatre is becoming the fingers of the
far-reaching US marketing arm.

Any discourse would be appreciated as I am about one hour away from
completing all my papers for the term.

Colin Plant
Victoria, B.C.