Critic reviews Busker Alley - The Huber Marionettes

"Busker Alley" Reviews


"… The strongest presence may be that of Glady's terrier, Mate, a marionette brilliantly characterized and manipulated by Phillip Huber".
Todd Everett Daily Variety


"Those marionettes have such charm and vitality on stage. When I first saw the Charley marionette, I said to my partner, "That puppet has almost as much charisma as Tommy!"
Bonnie Weiss TheaterWeek Magazine



"Question: Can a marionette dog be nominated for a Tony Award as the best supporting performance in a musical? The addition of a marionette dog, sidekick to buskering gal (Cincinnati's Marcia Lewis) is inspired. As worked by Phillip Huber, it's proof of the old adage not to work with kids or animals: The dog comes on, the rest of the cast disappears."
Jackie Demaline Cincinnati Enquirer



"Reason number three to see this production is the matchless expertise of the marionette operator Phillip Huber. He uses two marionettes in the play. One is a miniature Charley, the second and most believable one is the dog known as Mate (Taffy). Taffy is the only serious threat of upstaging Mr. Tune in this performance. Although no one sees Mr. Huber on stage, dressed in black, it is easy to suspend logic and see the marionette as a real dog."
Erin McClendon Dallas Voice, TX



"The cast is nearly upstaged by Phillip Huber and his marionettes, one a miniature version of Charley, and the other, a performing dog that seems so real you forget the strings and the person manipulating them."
Jay Handelman Sarasota Herald Tribune, FL



"In this show Lewis works with a shaggy dog, a marionette manipulated with amazing realism by a Huber Marionette puppeteer. It's an irresistible combination for audience affection…"
Phyllis Walbye Reporter-Herald, Denver


"And Tunes comes as close to being upstaged as he's ever going to get whenever he shares a scene with Puppeteer Phillip Huber, armed with a sassy pint-size marionette twin of Tune or a fluffy white dog marionette that stands in for the old-lady busker's shaggy, tail-wagging, hula dancing partner".
Daryl H. Miller LA Daily News, CA



"And the marionette work by the Huber Marionettes may garner the first Tony Award for a pair of inanimate objects".
Jim Faber Los Angeles Daily Breeze


"…two wonderful show stealing marionettes. Thanks to incredibly complex stringing, they articulate far beyond the usual ability of marionettes. The little dog, for instance, not only opens and closes its mouth but also pants with its tongue out, and its backend wiggles as though its tail had a mind of its own…"
Judith Green San Jose Mercury News, CA