War Horse Comes To The Hippodrome

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It's a story of loyalty and friendship. Tony award-winning "War Horse" is now at the Hippodrome.

Jessica Kartalija reports the show comes alive with the magic of puppets.

Five-time Tony award-winning performance of "War Horse" is galloping into the Hippodrome. There's a head puppeteer, heart puppeteer and hind puppeteer--and they all rotate positions.

"The idea is that no one person is leading the performance," said a man involved with the play.

There are several life-sized puppets in the show. Joey, the star of the performance, weighs 120 pounds.

"Every structure is completely unique. It's all made by hand. This is bamboo soaked in water," he said.

The show is being performed in London -- where it was created -- and around the world.

"It played in New York City, Toronto. We're now doing the North American tour. It's also currently going on in Germany," said a puppeteer.

Joey becomes caught in the crossfire and ends up serving on both sides of the war before ending up in no man's land. His owner sets off to find him and bring him home.

"The show is unique in that it has a central character that is a living, breathing horse. It doesn't try to be anthropomorphic. The horse is a horse and thus everything going on are seen through the neutral party of the horse," said a puppeteer.

"It's really something unique and I think it makes live theater incredibly relevant and shows what we do on stage that you can't see anywhere else," said Dayna Tietzen.

"War Horse" was a 2011 film directed by Steven Spielberg, adapted from a children's novel about the first World War.

Performances of "War Horse" run through Feb. 9.

Other Local News: