War Horse, the much-anticipated jewel of Milwaukee’s Broadway series, lives up to its expectations. Winner of five Tony Awards and myriad other accolades, the show delivers an incredible theatrical experience that fires one’s imagination as only theater can do.
Set in England on the eve of World War I, War Horse is essentially the tale of a boy and his horse. After all, the basis for War Horse is Michael Monpurgo’s book for young adults. Albert, a 16-year-old English farm boy, is captivated by a spirited foal purchased by his hard-headed father during an auction. The foal is animated (as is the full-sized horse seen later in the play) by a series of puppeteers. Amazingly, the adult horse is so sturdy that actors can ride it and not break the backs of the puppeteers beneath its hide.
In addition to Joey, the main horse, nearly a dozen other horses appear in the play. (There’s also a comical goose and some birds.) The ingenuity and craft that went into creating these puppets goes even farther than in The Lion King. The dramatic effect always goes up a notch whenever a horse strides onstage.
Joey is lovingly raised by Albert. Many of the play’s early scenes depict the antics between them in the English countryside. It is all the more painful, then, to see them eventually separate when Joey is sold to an English officer. Joey is half-thoroughbred, half draft horse. This genetic combination allows him to survive on the battlefield when other horses fail.
Before the war ends, Joey serves on both sides of the war. The battle scenes, though bloodless, are nonetheless effective in communicating the horrors of war. Both riders and horses fall as the bullets start to fly. This is the main reason why children under age 11 are not encouraged to see the play.
The puppeteers are so skilled that they create a definite “personality” for Joey. His body language, accompanied by neighs and whinnies, communicate what Joey is “feeling” at the moment. All was not perfection on opening night, however. Touring shows typically need tweaking when they enter a new theater. This usually fixes any problems before the curtain rises. However, an uneven sound balance mangled much of the dialogue. This wasn’t helped by the characters’ foreign accents. Sometime, such technical glitches can be corrected during intermission. This one wasn’t.
Problems aside, the production did a terrific job of telling its story in a highly theatrical manner. It is difficult to convey in words how the puppeteers create such a degree of realism with their inanimate objects. Upon closer inspection of the horses, as the media was invited to do prior to a performance, one discovers that a flick of an ear or a flip of a tail are realistically created by things as simple as bicycle brakes and rubber bands. It’s a matter of the actors’ talent and training that allows such simple elements to create the realism seen onstage.
The show soars amid top-notch technical elements that heighten this story of people and puppets. The masterful use of music, lights, scenery and projections is almost unequaled. One cannot help but be swept up in the astonishing events unfolding before the audience’s eyes. Those who only have seen the Spielberg movie of the same name cannot conceive of how emotionally affecting a live performance can be. Go see the movie and the play; both have their strong points.
