*

New York City stages have been filled with puppetry this season, from the evocative shadow puppets used in The Scottsboro Boys to the zany playhouse pals at Pee-wee Herman on Broadway to The Addams Family's creatures of the night. Gotham is also preparing to welcome the life-size equestrian puppets of War Horse, and the Bunraku work of Compulsion, the story of Anne Frank's diary.

It was only natural that Playbill.com should go to renowned puppeteer Basil Twist — whose works include the music-filled spectacle Arias With a Twist, Peter and Wendy, Symphonie Fantastique and Petrushka — for an insider's look at what it takes to pull the strings of puppetry magic.

Basil Twist: I was enchanted by it as a kid. My mother was doing it and I was close enough to appreciate it. I do like performing and the thing about puppetry is, generally, you're not drawing attention to yourself. I was very shy as a child, but I still had a theatrical flair, so to speak, so it was the perfect way for me to perform and still protect myself. To get attention, but not necessarily draw attention to myself. That's actually a very real reason why a lot of puppeteers start to do it.

You went on to study at the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette, France's first and only puppetry school, correct? That's an auspicious beginning for an American artist.

BT: Yes. That experience just pushed me to do bigger and better things. I try to make good on the incredible opportunities I had. When I first came to New York I met Julie Taymor early on and worked on Juan Darien. That was an amazing experience for me. I've been really blessed. That's part of what pushes me to make the coolest stuff I can, because I feel like I lucked out. I've had these amazing opportunities and I owe it to the universe because the universe gave these great gifts and opportunities to me.

Your work is well known internationally and you're sort of this downtown darling of New York's theatre scene. Had Broadway been something you wanted to tackle?

	Julian Crouch
	photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

BT: I wasn't necessarily seeking work on Broadway. I had known [The Addams Family director-designers] Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermot, because their show Shockheaded Peter happened about the same time I did Symphonie Fantastique. They asked me to come and join them on The Addams Family. What was intriguing to me about the project was those guys, who I have a lot of respect for artistically. I thought, "This sounds kinda cool," because I'm not really a mainstream guy and neither are they. So that gave a little special edge into my entry into the Broadway world. The material of The Addams Family has a cool subversive edge, and that felt like a good one to start with.

You're also involved with The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway.

BT: I came to know Pee-wee from Arias With a Twist. Paul Reubens was an original member of the Groundlings [where Pee-wee was born] with Joey Arias [the acclaimed drag artist who starred in Arias With a Twist]. He came to see Arias and was enchanted with my work. He wanted me to do all the puppetry for the show in L.A., but I couldn't because I was doing The Addams Family. But I served as a creative consultant and when the show did finally make it to New York, I had more room in my schedule and I said, "Of course."

Did you start from scratch and rebuild all of the puppets for Pee-wee on Broadway?

BT: No. It was an unusual process for me. The puppets were built by several different puppet builders in L.A., mostly in the television industry. There were specifics that I suggested, of course, building things for television are totally different than doing it on stage. I have huge respect for the people who built them in L.A.

When the show finally came to Broadway there were some key sequences that Paul wanted to completely overhaul or augment. Obviously, those are iconic characters that were all developed years and years ago, so there's not a lot of wiggle room for me to put my full interpretation on them.

I worked with director Alex Timbers and Paul to get the puppetry to a higher level. There has to be clarity of gesture. No puppet can do everything. You have to make them do the things that they are supposed to do well, and then the rest is left to the imagination.

What moments were you specifically keen on?

BT: Pterri the Pterodactyl. He needs to fly well and it's a key part of the story because Pee-wee wants to fly himself. I wasn't quite satisfied with the way that puppet flew and how his wings flapped. String marionettes are very, very difficult, and I almost hesitated to go in there and change stuff. But the puppeteers I work with were also eager to make it be better. So, I worked together with puppeteers who are regular members of my shows and kind of revised how that puppet worked and how his wings flapped.

Those familiar with your aesthetic might be able to pick out signature Basil Twist moments. I couldn't help but see your handiwork all over the flying sequences in The Addams Family and Pee-wee.

BT: Yes. The flying sequence was probably the most important thing to Paul [in Pee-wee] that I helped to make bigger and better. I took the reigns on that. He wanted it to be more poetic and sublime. He wanted to really fly, to make it actually go somewhere more fantastical. It was put in my hands to execute it as beautifully as I could.

Paul Reubens with Pterri the Pterodactyl and company

photo by Joan Marcus