Setting the Stage

by Jimmy Leo

Of the variety of different avenues that can be taken with regard to balloon entertaining, one that appears to be least traveled at the moment is the stage show. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the smaller venues as well, but there's something about the stage show that offers something the others can't - the chance to reach many people in a single performance. I don't mean 50 or 60 people. I'm referring to a quality stage performance that can entertain hundreds at a pop. There's something very powerful about knowing that at that moment so many people are not only focused on you, but are entertained by you as well. It can be a natural high. It also offers a chance to get a message out to a large group, being that you have all of their attention. One can see how the stage offers the opportunity that other venues may not, or may not offer it to as large a number of people. Stage shows can be devised of many various five minute bits all combined into one performance on the stage. It can even be a few larger variety pieces combined into one show. Yet still it can be a concept performance focused around one theme or idea, with an entire show building around it.

Peter Meurer performs his winning stage performance at The Millennium Jam 2000

My first stage show was called When I grow up I want to be and focused on various occupations. It went through each occupation I ever wanted to pursue, right up to my career as a balloon artist. In between, I presented a variety of other careers. Each occupation offered props created from balloons. In some cases the occupation offered it's own form of entertainment. For instance, I had weaved a balloon guitar, and I became a rock guitarist. When the volume of the stereo pumped throughout the auditorium, I became the musician. Leaping across the stage, sliding, playing a guitar solo, jumping off the stage, running through the audience giving high fives as I "played" and getting them to clap along were all things that went with this small part of the show. What I discovered was that while the kids were entertained, the teachers were as well. I reached an entirely different age bracket than I initially aimed for. Although I didn't start with the goal of entertaining the adults, my eyes were openned just a bit. The new idea was to no longer shoot for entertaining a particular age bracket, but to have a main age range to entertain with complimentary forms of entertainment or concepts that would amuse others as well. I learned later that the adults were entertained with it for it's originality. It wasn't something they see everyday. Originality is the cornerstone to overcoming the barriers of age brackets. This is the goal. Find something remarkably creative and let it catapult you to new areas of entertainment.

With this new cornerstone of originality, it's also important to realize that complimenting or lacing your show in subtle ways with other forms of entertainment can often be key to a successful show. When I first started doing performances on stage, they were a mish mosh of balloon bits combined with magic. Now when it comes to magic, I'm mediocre at best. But when the two were combined, it added another element to the show that was entertaining to those that might not have been entertained by just the balloons alone. my balloon show back then was VERY much in it's caveman stages, and to say it was a diamond in the rough would be a compliment. I'm happy to say it's been refined since then. Since then I've learned to merge the two a bit better by combining one magic trick along with a very large balloon prop along with some slightly abusive humor and resulted in a 12 minute bit that's comical, original and magical. The trick involves 2 volunteers, each sitting at opposite ends of the stage. With a special "mind reading board, one thinks of the answers to questions asked, I "read his mind and jotted down my prediction, and then he would write seperately what the true answers were. It finished with him picking a card from the deck and thinking about it. A linking balloon hat was placed on the head of both men, and as the first man thought of the card, I read his mind through the second man connected to him.

Sean Rooney's stage act has won him awards at several conventions

Now there's no doubt that the site of two grown men wearing a linking balloon hat that stretches across the entire stage is rather silly to say the least. Combine with that the way I exxagerate facial distortions of actual mind readers, and it really turns into a rather humorous bit. The ending? I guess the card right thanks to a special deck of cards. The nice thing about this bit is that it covers magic, humor and balloons. My point is that complimenting one form of entertainment has a tendency to attract a greater audience with regard to size. But it also breaks down barriers that might otherwise remain in place. Often people think balloons are for kids, and I found in the very beginning that unless I complimented my show in some ways the adults wouldn't look at it at all. Having found other means that may interest them, I keep them looking long enough to see some of the amazing balloon props and that balloons are for kids of ALL ages. At that point, they get the message. Balloons can be used to entertain adults as well as kids.

Many times I am complimenting my balloons with verbal humor as a hook to amuse those in an age bracket I might not otherwise reach. It helps to bring them into the show in a figurative sense, if there is something offered up that they can relate to. Many times I am creating a physical kind of humor with the balloons (entertaining the kids) while at the same time offering up verbal humor that goes right over the heads of children and smoothly landing right in the mind or heart of the adults. From politics to current events to the differences between men and women as well as so many other topics, when phrased subtly enough, provide a large impact. And at times just before saying it or even as I am saying it, I often wonder "is this stepping over the line? Am I going too far? Will this go from entertaining to offensive?" Nine out of ten times, I get resounding laughter or snickers at my humor, and often after the show someone walks up and says what I consider the greatest compliment of all: "You know I brought my kids here to see your show but I never realized that I would find it entertaining too." I thank them, and often compare this to fishing. After all, isn't that what we're doing? Fishing for a larger market? And at that moment, when the adults tell me how entertained they were, it's like theat second you know the fish just hit your fishing line and he's YOURS to reel in. My point is, it's the greatest feeling in the world.

In conclusion, compliment your shows, attract bigger crowds, and aim for larger and more varied markets. Never stop the creative process that captures those still unaware of the stage show's power. E mail me at cloud9prty@aol.com with any comments or questions. Keep twisting and never stop your quest for the ultimate performance.