Well, the thing with Barrett is that he isn't a puppeteer in the professional sense. While he does a good job one of the things I've noticed is that from the very start he tends to hold the puppet lower than John or Stephanie or any of the others. That means that to see the puppet you sort of have to look down whereas the others hold them so that the puppet head is more or less even with their head which allows the audience to easily focus on the puppet. Whereas when Barrett holds it a bit lower you're more drawn to his face because thats where the voice is coming from.
You shouldn't. He's in one of the most popular Broadway shows right now where the whole show is about puppets. If he's not good with the puppets, he's not that good with the show, is he?
There's a light in the darkness of everybody's life.
He is good with the puppets, but competing with people who have handled puppets for years- I can assure that a beginner would do much more worse- yet Barrett has come along nicely in that sense. But even most of the performers holding a puppet don't act, they put the puppet in front of them to let the puppet do it for them.
I'm not trying to imply that I don't like Barrett. I was just trying to explain why people would notice his face more than focus on the puppet where they should be looking. He's been a part of the cast since right after last Christmas, so by now he should be comfortable in it.
I thought he was GREAT in the show and he seemed very comfortable with the puppet. he was not the only one where i found myself watching the person and not the puppet. I looked and him, stephanie, and rick just as much as I watched their respective puppets.
i think he should have a leading role in a musical with NO puppets anyways! :)
It could be people were watching him rather than the puppet because he's so damn good-looking!
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
Did anyone else see him in Much Ado About Nothing with Karen Ziemba? He was really great. I didn't even know who he was then and I remember thinking "damn, he's cute!"
"It means that the other guys didn't win!"
--Jeff Marx on what winning a Tony would mean to him
He was kind of nervous- going from a Mamma Mia chorus boy to a big character in a Shakespeare play. He was a wonderful Claudio, though. Every single actor did great in that show.