War Horse, the play.

I had the opportunity to go see Broadway’s newest play, “War Horse,” which is currently being adapted for film by Steven Spielberg.  Originally scheduled for a limited engagement at Lincoln Center, the play has been extended due to the overwhelming positive response it has received.

Based on the book by Michael Morpurgo, and brought over to the United States from the National Theatre of Great Britain, the play centers around 16-year-old Albert and his horse Joey.  Set in England between 1912 through the end of World War One, it would seem impossible to bring a story to the stage that’s so heavily centered on an animal.  Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa created three horses for the play, each operated by three people.  The puppeteers create a performance that is truly mesmerizing and overshadows the performance of all the actors on stage.  That is not to say that the acting in “War Horse” was weak.  Seth Numrich who portrays Albert did such a fabulous job creating the illusion of having and ironclad bond with a horse puppet that many audience members were in tears by the end of the play.

The music and the stage set supplemented Numrich and the puppeteers’ performances brilliantly.

The only weak spot I saw in “War Horse” was the young girl who played Emilee.  It felt a bit over the top, but she’s probably only nine years old, so I’ll ignore it in my overall assessment of the play itself.

I recommend “War Horse” to anyone who has the opportunity to see it, or has any interest in Spielberg’s movie that comes out December 28.