songbird salutes the 70's -- Mummenschanz

The commercials were all over the TV -- Come see Mummenschanz on Broadway.

So what was Mummenschanz?  Something weird, something different, but very entertaining.  A mime troop, they performed their vignettes on a bare stage, with very interesting masks and costumes and props.  In fact, the masks and costumes BECAME the props. They performed in silence, no music or dialog.  They were funny, quirky, charming.


The show ran on Broadway for 3 years.


I never got a chance to see it.


Until last weekend,



Mummenschanz is touring the USA again.  We saw the performance at the Tilles Center (CW Post/Long Island University).


It's a family friendly show, there were a lot of children in the audience.  the style of performance is mime, but it's a very athletic, acrobatic version of the art.

The show starts with two performers, dressed as hands in white gloves, opening the curtain and letting the audience into the Mummenshanz world.  I think my favorite was the flirtation between two characters, each with a mask made out of rolls of paper -- his paper was blue, hers was pink.  The characters with the clay masks, which were molded and reshaped during the performance, were clever too.  Loved the slinky-like pipe that threw the giant ball out to the audience.  And the bendable glow stick masks were delightful.

It was a  fun, quirky, amusing afternoon.

(photos courtesy of the Mummenshcanz website)