Bill’s 44th

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People often mask feelings of loneliness with behaviors and rituals that, at times, border on fantasy and hallucination. Every family has stories of a grandfather, grandmother, or other relative talking to themselves or behaving in ways that appear disconnected from reality. These actions are not done out of a feeling of inclusion or acceptance. They are not expressions of comfort or happiness. They are the person, subconsciously, crying out for help.

Bill’s 44^th is a story of loneliness told within the context of a birthday celebration. It is a wordless puppet show for grown-ups created and presented by Dorothy James and Andy Manjuck. James and Manjuck combine to inhabit Bill, a middle-aged man with a belly paunch and a paper-maché bald head with bushy eyebrows, a mustache, and deep, empty eye sockets. His legs are those of Manjuck, and his arms are those of James and Manjuck. It is a remarkable display of puppetry. Their collaboration brings emotional heft to the puppet with actions that are choreographed to perfection. Jon Riddleberger plays a supporting role as a pizza delivery man and later as the puppeteer of a human-sized dancing carrot stick.

The story takes us from when Bill arrives home from work and reveals that the day is his 44^th birthday. It is not a milestone birthday, but Bill has made elaborate preparations for a party. He has a plate of crudités, party hats, balloons, a Happy Birthday banner, and a punch bowl. The punch bowl becomes an important character in the drama as Bill fills it with three different types of liquor, repeatedly increasing the amount poured after each of his tastings during the show. The punch bowl becomes the source of the strange happenings as the party progresses into Bill’s evening.

Bill anxiously waits for guests to arrive, reflexively checking his watch and the wall clock, but nobody seems to be coming. As time passes, and he drinks more and more of his punch, Bill draws faces on some of the balloon decorations. It is at this point that the pathos in the party becomes evident.

From the moment when the table is set for the party to when he begins to create the balloon people, the reference to time is the dramatic device that defines Bill’s emotional desperation. It is as if in his desire for celebration he is defying the reality of the moment by making guests for his party.

This theme of loneliness and emotion bordering on despair carries through the show, with Bill putting a face on a carrot stick and naming it Cary, even making a chair and party hat for his creation. His reaction when a knock on the door makes it seem as if someone has finally arrived, only to discover the first to be a birthday gift left outside the door and later a pizza delivery man at the wrong address.

The gift turns out to be a video from his mother that gives him a moment of hope for a happy turn of events but instead ends in a frustrating debacle of a failed video player. After each moment of disappointment, he drinks more of his punch, which leads him into a deeper and darker place in his imagination. As he creates more balloon guests, a knock at the door introduces Cary as a human-size character expertly handled by Riddleberger.

The party spins out of control, and Bill is deep in a dark, hallucinatory dreamscape when he tries again to watch the videotape. As the machine whirs to a start, the television suddenly collapses, and a small puppet appears, perhaps a representation of Bill as it goes through changes representing aging, including adding a mustache. It is a remembrance of all the birthdays that have come before and brings a measure of solace to Bill. Finally, a scene, involving the audience, leads to what is possibly a redemptive moment in Bill’s disastrous 44^th birthday party as the celebration expands to fill the theater.

The show is infused with music from an original score by Eamon Fogarty that is integral to filling out Bill’s emotional structure and perception of reality. The music sets the mood for each of the various scenes as the show progresses from lighthearted and expectant feelings at the beginning to the moments of excitement and disappointment as the party weaves in and out of celebration and confusion into the darkness of despair and finally emerges with a joyous anthem at the end. It is an integral component of the experience.

Two critical elements in this type of production are lighting and sound. M. Jordan Wiggins’ lighting is perfectly attuned to the shifting narrative, adding emotional weight and lightness to support the puppeteers’ wordless actions. Manjuck adds a well-integrated and balanced sound direction, effectively complementing the lighting, all in the service of the puppeteers’ storytelling. The set and prop design by Peter Russo, Joseph Silovsky, and Taryn Uhe round out the production.

Bill’s 44th (through July 28, 2024)

Official Puppet Business in a co-presentation with Dream Music

HERE, 145 Sixth Avenue, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 212-647-0202 or visit https://ci.ovationtix.com/219/production/1203799?performanceId=11481065

Running time: one hour without an intermission