War Horse is galloping into town this holiday season.
If you haven't heard, it's a successful international play based on the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo. The story revolves around a horse named Joey that lives with a family before fighting in World War One.
The show became a hit thanks to the Handspring Puppet Company who brought the horse to life winning several awards in the process. The production itself won five Tony Awards and will close on Broadway in January. Fortunately for Chicagoans, the show arrives here on its first national tour.
Jon Riddleberger heads up the puppet cast, playing Joey and Topthorn. He's a New Jersey native who studied acting at New York University's Tisch Experimental Theatre Wing.
We talked to the man behind the horse right before the show opened.
Windy City Times: Hi, Jon. Where in the world are you?
Jon Riddleberger: I'm in Des Moines, Iowa.
Windy City Times: How is the tour going there?
Jon Riddleberger: We have had some great houses here. It's a nice, small, peaceful city. It has been very relaxing.
Windy City Times: Were you with the cast that did this in Toronto?
Jon Riddleberger: No, the Toronto cast is a whole separate cast.
Windy City Times: How long have you been touring with the show?
Jon Riddleberger: We started at the end of March and then left at the end of May to go to Boise, Idaho, where we tech-ed and started previews.
Windy City Times: What is your background?
Jon Riddleberger: I'm from New Jersey. I went to NYU [New York University] for college and to the Experimental Theatre Wing. NYU has all different kinds of acting studios. The one I went to a very physical kind of training for actors and performers. While I was there I became interested in puppetry. I started working with some downtown puppetry companies in New York. Since then I have written, directed and made puppets.
For the last few years, I have just done acting roles without puppets. This show came along, and now I am here.
Windy City Times: When did you first love puppets?
Jon Riddleberger: I always have. I think Kermit the Frog and Cookie Monster have shaped who I am today! I think when I was in college I finally realized how puppets encapsulate the essence of theater. They are such a pure form of theater. I think it is really cool that War Horse exists. It has shown the world that puppets can be legitimate dramatic theatrical things. They can really carry weight in a production and tell a story. They can capture an audience's emotions sometimes more than a human can.
Windy City Times: This is nothing like Avenue Q in style. Joey is played very realistically, from what I have seen.
Jon Riddleberger: It is interesting because puppetry across the board, even with Avenue Q, have all the same principles and ideas. It is about how you are performing them or emphasizing. With Handspring Puppet Company, who designed the puppets and directed the puppets in our production, their main principle is about breath. I think that is what drives the puppets in this show. We are giving them literal breath. It jumps them from a cell to a living organism that has different rhythms and can surprise people.
Windy City Times: Handspring started off with very heavy shows, very artsy, from what I have read.
Jon Riddleberger: Their background is very esoteric puppet work. They started in South Africa, and were there during the apartheid. They have been through some history with their country and they sort of process that through puppetry. So a lot of their work before War Horse was pretty dark and socially charged. I think War Horse can be dark and socially charged as well, but it has a lighter edge to it because it is about storytelling.
Windy City Times: Is the plot similar to the movie version?
Jon Riddleberger: Steven Spielberg saw the play and wanted to make a movie version of it. He went back to the source material, which was the book that was written by Michael Morpurgo. So the movie and the play are adapted from the book so they follow the same story but take different avenues in the adaptations. So, generally, yes but I think the movie has several different subplots.
Windy City Times: You play two different characters?
Jon Riddleberger: Yes; I play Topthorn, who is the big black military horse who befriends Joey. I also play Joey, who is the main horse.
Windy City Times: What kind of training did you go through for this production?
Jon Riddleberger: We started with two weeks of puppet rehearsal and horse research. We went to horse stables and we still watch YouTube clips on horses. It is an ongoing process and we still discover things about these puppets.
Windy City Times: There are three people who operate the horse. How does that work?
Jon Riddleberger: It is kind of gift because you are not up there alone. I have two other people who have my back. They are also two other people that think differently than me and have other instincts. They make random choices, which is actually very nice because it is an opportunity to do things differently than I would.
If I had a horse that was just my horse, then it would be a very different horse than what we have. My horse is with two other people with great insights and instincts. It is three of our jobs to negotiate that. We use our differences to create our horse.
Windy City Times: Is it hot and sweaty inside the horse?
Jon Riddleberger: Yes, it is. I'm actually the head puppeteer so I am outside the horse. Jessica and Patrick are my heart and hind puppeteers. They are inside the cage of the horse.
Windy City Times: So you are manipulating the head and the leader?
Jon Riddleberger: It looks like that, but I'm actually not. It's funny because you watch the show and think the head puppeteer is making all the decisions but if Patrick and Jess don't want to move then the horse is not moving! I don't have a say as to when the horse moves and doesn't unless they let me. The goal is that none of us are leading or following. We are all acting together. It's interesting because I have less power than you would think.
Windy City Times: I remember it being three men when I met the horse at a preview.
Jon Riddleberger: There are three casts so that could have been a different team. We just rotate through the horse.
Windy City Times: Do you have plans after this tour?
Jon Riddleberger: I don't know yet. I'm not sure what opportunities this unique show will open up for me. I have a theater company I work with back home in New York called Theater Reconstruction Ensemble. I'm excited to get back in the fray with them.
Windy City Times: How long are you on tour?
Jon Riddleberger: Until June. We are excited to come to Chicago. It will be great to be there for Christmas and New Years.
Windy City Times: The horse can have a toast and get drunk.
Jon Riddleberger: [Laughs] Exactly!
Fight your way to tickets at www.broadwayinchicago.com . War Horse runs now through Jan. 5 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.
Follow Jon's trail at www.jonriddleberger.com .
