A Buffalo audience can expect to be wowed by puppeteers, who control a horse, on stage at Shea's Performing Arts Center. Tony-award winning War Horse opens at Shea's Tuesday evening.
The crew demonstrated the life-size horse to the media Tuesday morning at Shea's. The horse puppet -- named Joey -- is handmade by 14-people.
35-cast members work in the show. "Three people work together as one unit to bring this puppet to life. They operate head, the heart and the hind," said James Duncan, spokesperson for the show.
At some point in the show, there are eight horses on stage, with 25-plus puppets throughout the entire performance.
"It takes all of us working together, to make you believe these horses are real," said Duncan.
WNED'S Misty Harris video recorded the demonstration of the War Horse at Shea's Tuesday morning. In the clip, the horse looks life-like as it approaches Harris as she records. http://youtu.be/n4WCO1sbXhc
The frame is made of mostly cane and stained. A puppeteer controls the head and other parts -- moving the horse across the stage with the grace of a real horse.
War Horse is a powerful story of a 15-year-old boy who searches for his horse sold to the English calvary during World War I.
According to a write up about War Horse, by David Freeland during that war, "more than one million horses were conscripted by the British military alone."