Lamb Chop is one of the most well-known puppets in the world. Shari Lewis first performed with the little lamb sock puppet in the 1950s, and died in 1998 (yeah, I know most of you will know this, but it’s important for later in the review). Her daughter, Mallory, picked up where her mum left off, and is now performing around America with Lamb Chop.

The performance was presented at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Centre of the Arts, probably a 1000-seat venue. A proscenium stage, there is very little set design. In fact, there’s no set design, other than black curtains hiding the majority of the stage, and only the apron for performing on. Lewis is introduced, and walks out dressed in a sparkly blue gown, with Lamb Chop dressed in a burkha: a series of jokes follow about current politics. Lamb Chop spars with Lewis, in usual Lamb Chop style, and in between a brilliant wit and comical timing, we have a few songs.

I don’t know what is was about the sound, but it made Lewis’ songs sound quite bad. I’m sure she’s a great singer, but something was wrong (don’t ask me what the issue was, I couldn’t figure it out and am not good at sound design anyway). Lighting too, was slightly off. The follow-spot operator had momentary control issues, and a few times at the start of the show, the beam dipped completely downstage and off both Lewis and Lamb Chop. A chase in one of the songs (lighting was basically warm and cool wash, with some dim house lighting) was too dim to be useful, and too bright to be subtle. I found myself wondering what the hell the chase was doing there.

Besides the issues with vocals in the songs, I had no problems with the performance. I haven’t seen much of Lamb Chop (probably the last real time I watched it was when she was on The Nanny), so don’t have a good memory of what the original performer (Shari) was like. But to my relatively untrained eye, Lewis was spot on. The voice of Lamb Chop was superbly done, even if I spent some of my time watching the clenched teeth of the ventriloquist (hey, I always like to know the ‘how’ of puppetry, rather than watch the puppetry itself). The manipulation was also brilliantly done, with Lamb Chop playing to the audience and doing those sighs that we know so well. Lewis combines breaking-the-fourth-wall with a fun back-and-forthness with Lamb Chop - the songs may have been from her current show/s, but much of the jokes and dialogue was specifically directed to her audience of professional puppeteers/peers. 

I would give this show a three out of five (she loses points for the songs, which I actually thought she could lose; or perhaps needed better sound for), but for one thing: she finished the performance on a most intimate note. She began telling us about the events that transpired when her mother died. This wasn’t obvious straight away; but once she mentioned a specific date, and where she was at that time on that date, it was immediate. The attention force of the audience was so palpable that you could have picked it up, taken it outside of the theatre, and drop kicked it to the curb. 

The story, which was spoken with care, a somewhat dark humour, and of course, a touch of sadness, was a prelude to a short compilation video of Shari Lewis’ performances on TV and photos. The last ever song recorded by Shari, which was played throughout the video, was Hello Goodbye. Mallory was the producer of Shari’s TV show, and they both knew she was going to die the day of the shoot. Mallory tried to convince her mother that the song wasn’t needed - for obvious personal reasons, she didn’t want to have to watch her sing a song about saying goodbye - but Shari insisted. (You can find a video of the exact same compilation here) It’s one of those stories/videos that touches you so much because of the delicate way it’s told. 

The show finished thus, and the audience gave Mallory (and Shari, and Lamb Chop) a standing ovation. If you’re keen on Lamb Chop, I’d recommend this show; but am wary of the vocals. Nevertheless, the touching finish brings my review rating to: