'Frozen' in Memphis: Disney puppets come to life on Orpheum stage

In the 1940 Walt Disney animated feature "Pinocchio," Geppetto, a lovable woodcarver, creates a puppet that is brought to life through the magical intervention of a blue fairy.

In contrast, Michael Curry brings Disney puppets to life, so to speak, without supernatural assistance. His sorcery is that of an artist, his wizardry is that of a designer, his thaumaturgy is that of an engineer.

Look, ma, no wands — and no coding, either.

"There are no animatronics in my characters, no electronics or computer-controlled motion," Curry said. "It's all human skill, and we're really proud of that."

Memphis audiences will be able to experience two of Curry's most impressive characters — "live," and in "person" — when the stage adaptation of "Frozen" comes to the Orpheum for 15 performances, June 22 to July 2.

A touring version of the 2018 Broadway interpretation of the hit Disney animated feature film from 2013, "Frozen" promises to be a genuine spectacle and perhaps a sweet relief for a city likely to be enduring temperatures in the 90s while the show's fairy tale personalities caper across a stage designed to resemble a kingdom of eternal snow and ice.

The cast is headed by Lauren Nicole Chapman and Caroline Bowman in the familiar roles of Princess Anna and Queen Elsa (the latter royal belts out the showstopper "Let It Go," once — and perhaps still? — a ubiquitous anthem at little girls' birthday parties). But as talented as those performers are, many theatergoers are likely to be especially impressed by Curry's additions to the troupe: the full-scale puppet-style representations of the film's popular non-human characters, Olaf, the comical enchanted snowman, and Sven, the loyal and lovable reindeer companion to a human ice harvester named Kristoff.

Curry, 65, described Olaf and Sven as "unique takes" on the traditional concept of "puppet."

The diminutive Olaf is a fullsize construction, manipulated from behind by an actor (Jeremy Davis) who is on view during the performance. The snowman is an example of what Curry said he and "The Lion King" director Julie Taymor identified as "American bunraku" — in reference to a traditional Japanese method of large-scale puppetry — when they collaborated on the groundbreaking 1997 Broadway adaptation of the Disney cartoon about animals on the African veldt.

MEMPHIS CONCERTS: A guide to 20 summer concerts in Memphis that you won't want to miss

Sven, on the other hand (or hoof), represents a more innovative and complex design: He is "a full-body-character costume-puppet," Curry said.

"We often think of puppetry as external to the puppeteer," he said, "but in this case it's fully inhabited. The (performer) wears it. Every movement the human body does transfers to something in the puppet itself."

The actor/dancer inside the Sven costume-puppet is fitted into a head-and-shoulder harness, and has orthopedic-type crutch and stilt attachments on his arms and legs, "to emulate the ambulation of a quadruped," Curry said. Meanwhile, the actor's hands and fingers manipulate levers that control the features of Sven's face. "It's a real magic trick that enables people to believe Kristoff is out there with a deer," he said.

Needless to say, the performance is exhausting. "Very few performers have the physical strength and stamina to perform this," Curry said. "It's like the strength required to do a handstand." This is why the stage directions sometimes give Sven a chance to graze or otherwise chill, while the human actors continue their drama; this also is why the Sven job at the Orpheum will alternate between two performers, Collin Baja and Dan Plehal.

Curry's interest in puppet effects evolved out of his work as a sculptor and gallery artist in New York in the 1970s and '80s. His "kinetic sculptures," with moving parts, attracted favorable attention from collectors but especially from gallery patrons with connections to theater, who saw potential applications for his creativity in stage props and set designs.

As 1980s theater began to emulate the movies, with an increased emphasis on spectacle and special effects, in such productions as "Starlight Express" and "Cats," Curry found a busy new career with such collaborators as Taymor on Broadway, Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas, and Katy Perry at the Super Bowl. (For the pop star's 2015 halftime performance, he devised a 32-foot-long golden lion. "Most people thought it was a robot, but it was manually operated," Curry said.)

AT THE ORPHEUM: Comedian Matt Rife coming to Memphis on world tour, adds second show at Orpheum

"To this day, I love it more than anything, because of the collaboration and the storytelling," he said of his work. He said the Disney productions are especially challenging and rewarding because "these animated characters are often impossible to render with human actors, and so puppetry and sculpture is almost the only solution to a live presentation." He said he mostly recruits dancers for his puppeteers, because "they look for storytelling accuracy, for movement accuracy. Dancers already have the discipline of their body."

With demand for his work increasing, Curry became an entrepreneur as well as an artist. He now employs more than 50 people and operates design and fabrication companies out of his home base near Portland, Oregon, producing puppetry characters, costumes and other effects for stage productions, theme parks, casinos and more.

He said he's become something of a performer himself, test-driving all his creations to make sure they are practical as well as — here's this word again — magical. "I still operate every piece I ever produce," he said, "just for the feel of it and make sure it's perfect."

Disney's 'Frozen' at the Orpheum

15 performances, June 22-July 2, at 203 S. Main.

Ticket prices range from $34-$150.

For tickets and more information, go to orpheum-memphis.com or ticketmaster.com, or visit the Orpheum box office.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: 'Frozen' in Memphis: Disney puppets come to life on Orpheum stage