WILLIAM MOHAN
Special to The Leader
Little Siblings Weekend kicked off with flying colors and consisted of an equally colorful cast of characters through the talented voice and comedy of one unique talent.
Known for her work with names like Ray Romano, Jeff Foxworthy and The Smothers Brothers, and numerous performances on ABC and A&E among others, Lynn Trefzger left a unique impression with her brand of humor and interactivity at the Marvel Theatre. She also kindled a warm spark on a Fredonia audience frustrated with the recent low temperatures.
As part of the Kaleidoscope Family Series, the show was a truly mixed affair. At times, it also balanced double entendres for kids and adults. In the end, everyone left with great appreciation for Trefzger’s craft — ventriloquism.
Instead of being solely focused on puppets, though, the event was about the attending viewers. In doing so, it tested the limits of natural responses. It was clear from the start that Trefzger strives to be unique instead of just another ventriloquist. As a result, the show was aesthetically appealing to all.
Overall, the show consisted of descriptions and introductions of a puppet and more interactivity in between. During the latter, Trefzger used shoulder taps on human participants to speak a unique voice to each volunteer.
At one point, Trefzger employed the use of a blanket, as well as her voice and a baby bottle, to feed an imaginary child. She also used a volunteer to treat the child in the same manner before introducing the next character. The amount of participants varied, and every person who went up received googly eyes on a ring.
It began with Camelot the camel. Trefzger started with the character asking who the people in the audience were and then bringing the subjects up to be with the puppet. This would be repeated two more times during the course of Trefzger’s time on stage. And, like the rest of the characters, Camelot had his own set of character traits. In this case, he was drunk onstage, and it showed on more than one occasion, due to his wording. Another trait the puppets all seemed to share was shooting down pop culture. Camelot first made fun of the song, “What Did The Fox Say,” then a Carfax commercial, and then a popular Geico commercial.
Simon, the puppet featured on the event poster, made two appearances. One involved Trefzger’s play with the word, “ventriloquist.” It was a unique pun on an art that already involves tongue-in-cheek humor in more ways than one.
At the same time, there was also play with Trefzger’s voice, deliberately off cue with Simon’s. The puppet’s highlight was the twisting of his head along with her voice being heightened or lowered depending on the requirement. He also brought a freshman theatre arts major, Ben Claudio, on stage. As a lead-in act, this opened the ability to do literal word play. Here, it involved Claudio simply standing and Trefzger placing a pair of lips in front of his own.
“You don’t know how to move, and it adds to the illusion,” said Claudio.
During the time she used volunteers, Trefzger also used a slight shoulder touch to freely move their mouths and occasionally their body language.
Bear was the third puppet and the most memorable; he stole the show. He was also the puppet with the most pop-culture references. In the course of describing his past careers, he stated he was a bearskin rug in a hunting lodge, played in the band at Chuck E. Cheese, had a cousin who worked in Charmin commercials and occasionally broke into frequent singing of “Frozen” songs. With these allusions came the conclusion that no pop-culture reference (no matter how cliche) was safe with Trefzger around.
Bear also housed the most notable of entendres. This was shown in his story of The Three Bears. During the course of this, he described Goldilocks as being hot. It raised numerous bursts of laughter among adults and children alike and possibly brought down the whole house. During this time, Bear also used three people who represented Mama, Papa and Baby Bear. This involved Facility Services Assistant Mark Delcan, whose daughter also participated in the show, as Papa Bear. Delcan jokingly said, “It was a little embarrassing.”
The cutest puppet was 3-year-old toddler, Chloe. She certainly earned her attention because of her innocence. She described typical views of little children who are curious, and at the same time want to impress their parents.
This innocence was strongly seen in her words, “Daddy has a scratchy beard. Feels like Mommy’s legs.” And, like the rest of the troupe, she was not short on pop culture references. Here she mentioned Justin Bieber and then went on to say she met Cinderella (her favorite character) during a visit to Disneyland.
Her highlight was when she was given a balloon. After floating with her mouth on it and its eventual deflation, she was whining and claimed she wanted it. It was then that she was put away and promised gum (something she pleaded for during her time).
In the final piece, Simon explained he had psychic powers (opening for more vocal play for Trefzger) and called it ESPN. In that same time, he also closed the show and ended the evening with a round of applause.
Through it all, Trefzger (and her band of friends) were very forthcoming both in humor and instruction. It was shown through children moving around Bear and Trefzger after the show and by the strong atmosphere.
“As long as it makes the children happy,” Delcan said.
Mrs. Trefzger also garnered much enjoyment from her performance. “It is always fun, and it makes people smile,” she said.
After seeing such a talented and experienced performance, it is obvious that many cheerful audience members couldn’t agree more.