Gabby’s Dollhouse Live is a high production puppetry event that doubles as another episode of the Netflix series, and it’s honestly impressive how seamlessly the live act translates from the small screen. My child and I saw the show last week at the Rosemont Theatre; it was the second of two Chicago-area stops after being performed in Joliet as part of its North American tour.
Gabby’s Dollhouse is a show about the titular Gabby, who has a giant dollhouse that she can shrink into with the power of her magic cat ears, and her own imagination. Inside she hangs out with her crew of cat friends known lovingly as the Gabby Cats. Cat Rat, Cakey, MerCat, DJ CatNip, Pillow Cat, Pandy Paws, Kitty Fairy and so many more are included in the show. Each has their own personality traits and even a theme song, which they are all too quick to sing on the show. The show usually ends with a craft that can be performed at home, or a Gabby Cat song.
With the live performance, we get an extended episode, clocking in with two 40-minute acts, with a 15-minute intermission. The premise is that one of the Gabby Cats (Cat Rat) accidentally breaks a rainbow and the rest of the crew is tasked with collecting all the colors of the rainbow. It’s a fun, on-brand plot that is something we’d see in a normal episode plus there’s a ton of audience participation for the crowd, with every Gabby Cat getting an opportunity to sing their signature songs. The show had the kids dancing in the aisles and blasting bubble wands in delight.
What stood out for me most was the puppetry at work here. The puppeteers used human-sized puppets while controlling them from behind, using their full bodies as part of the movement. So having the cats’ legs attached to their own to mimic life-like movement was fascinating to watch, and this included button triggers on their hands that would move the cats’ mouths as they talked. This doubles the performance as the puppeteer does the voice work as well as movement. It was intriguing to watch and I found it overall impressive to bring this kind of characterization to life —especially the mouth and eye movements. The puppets felt alive instead of just objects performing, and that is where the artistry comes in
The Gabby’s Dollhouse Live show was definitely a performance worth seeing. As a fan of the show for my child, it my expectations. My child danced, sang along and felt included in whatever was happening on stage. For my personal taste, the puppeteers on stage tried their best to mimic the voicework on the show, and I was pretty impressed overall. It wasn’t perfectly 1 to 1 with the show but close enough. The acoustics of the Rosemont Theatre also didn’t hold up as well, as the dialogue came off as very echo-y, and sometimes hard to distinguish. Still, that didn’t take away from what was a fantastic event for the whole family. I highly recommend it for the tiny fans of the show.
Gabby's Dolhouse Live is produced by DreamWorks Animation. The live stage show is written by Dannah Phirman and Clark Stubbs, based on the Netflix series created by executive producers Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey.
Photos by Alex Orona.
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