Long Island Puppet Theatre

This was beyond bad. There was no artistry whatsoever. It was mostly stuffed animals on the end of a stick mixed with spastic marionettes. They couldn’t even manage to put speakers on both sides of the stage, so the sound was muffled — which may have been a blessing since the soundtrack was some godawful ripoff of The Little Mermaid, clearly voiced entirely by the same genius tossing the stuffed animals around the stage. I honestly feel that an elementary school class could put together a better puppet show with their socks on their hands.

This place is TERRIBLE! I live in CA and we were going to be visiting NY for Christmas so I bought tickets to the Breakfast with Cinderella event on 12÷27÷15. I got an email confirmation once I purchased the tickets and my credit card was charged. We got up early on ¹²⁄₂₇ with my 2 young daughters, my niece, my sister and my mother and drove there and the doors were locked! No one was there and no one was answering the phone. I left 2 voicemail messages asking for someone to call me back and no one ever did. They charged my credit card for a service I never received and never bothered to get in touch with me. I have no idea what happened. The kids were so disappointed. My daughter and my niece were all dressed up in their Cinderella dresses, hoping to meet Cinderella and have breakfast with her. Thankfully I was able to dispute the charge with my credit card company and get my money back. But I will NEVER use this place again and I will make sure to let anyone I know in NY to not use them either. Terrible business.

I am very disappointed to have to write a negative review for this place. Last year we had a nice birthday party there for my daughter. This year we decided to go back there and have an Alice in Wonderland tea party. I paid a lot extra for the tea party and organic snacks. I asked the owner Eliza if she had a great «Alice.» She assured me her girl was great. Well, their Alice was awful! She didn’t interact with the kids at all. She did nothing but talk to the other girl that worked there and stand in the corner. My 6 year old daughter pulled me aside and was practically in tears because she was so disappointed that Alice didn’t come to her party. She said that girl wasn’t Alice because she was mean and she had brown hair. (She wasn’t mean, she just didn’t talk to the kids.) We tried to make the best of it. Several guests made comments to me about it as well. The «organic snacks» they serve consist of a few crackers one baby carrot, and one giant grape. It’s a rip off and I would never serve kids this age things like that because they can choke! The bathroom is also very grimy.
The next day I called Eliza to discuss the Alice situation. She was beyond rude. She said the usual girl was sick so she had to just get a girl to put on the outfit. That’s not what we paid for! We paid for an actress to interact with our kids as the character Alice! Also, a card with cash in it disappeared at the party and she insists no one found it. I can’t even describe how nasty she was to me on the phone. I will NEVER go back there or suggest the place to any of my friends. It’s a shame because up until this event my kids and I enjoyed going there.

Horrible! Very creepy!!! Rip off !!! I heard that the neighborhood had a puppet theatre and was very excited to check it out! WOW was I let down!!! I never felt so creeped out in my life!!! And yes it was a big rip off!!! It’s geared for kids don’t charge their parents!!! We are not as entertained by it!!! Unless you make an effort to entertain us! I left saying Oh MY GOD I am glad we made it out!!!

Creepy creepy creepy. No clue why anyone would go to this establishment. Made up cheap routines awful

Total ripoff. Took the wife and daughter to see a frozen puppet show which turned out to be a person dressed up as Elsa lip-​syncing the soundtrack over, over and over again. To make matters worse, the cost was $ 18 a ticket to have someone read the book of the Frozen story and then have the kids sing the song over, over and over again. The show was supposed to be an hour, but lasted merely 38 minutes…$ 54 later and unsatisfied we left. This really did not warrant the price of admission. BTW, Olaf made an appearance and scared the crap out of not only my daughter but many other children as well. It was really creepy looking. Maybe they have better quality shows, but for this Frozen offering, Stay AWAY!

We found the puppet show online and decided to go. There was Elmo show at 11:30. We arrived around 11:15. There were no cars, the theater is a decoreted house. The decoration was old without signs of any maintenance. We were doubting if it was still open or just abandoned. We decided not to enter with our little one. May be for halloween…

I really, really wanted to like this place. It is an adorable building, The inside is decorated great, captivates young kids. Lots to look at. The owner was friendly and upbeat, kind of zany. I get that puppets are not movies. I grew up going to puppet shows. It’s just that the puppetry was fair at best and the story was lacking! My kids liked the music and laser part. I really wanted to see better use of the marionettes, there were stuffed animals on sticks (tacky) and a lot of just music, no story. They should hire a puppeteer and come up with a better play to do.

The Best Money We Spent In A Long Time!
Last week my girlfriend and I went with our kids to The Long Island Puppet Theater to see the meet, greet and sing along with «Elsa» costume character from the «Frozen» movie. We were told to arrive at least 15 minutes before. When we walked in we were amazed at how beatiful the place is and we were greeted by a hostess who prompted us to step into the lobby and help the kids create a craft before the show started. When all the kids were done, we were ushered in the auditorium where all the kids sat on the stage and we, the parents sat on the benches behind them. After a brief announcement, the «Elsa» costume characther came out and lip-​singed the «Let it Go» song under the dramatic lights! It was an awesome performance by a young girl! Then she did an interactive story time of the Frozen movie and after that, all the kids got a chance to sing along with her most of the songs of the movie! All the kids had a blast! Afterwards they all took a photo with «Elsa»! It was great! We haven’t been entertained so well in a long time! We can’t wait to visit the theater again for a puppet show! I recommend to all parents The Long Island Puppet Theater, they do a great job at what they do! 10 Stars!

April 2014 program of Frozen was a total waste of time. They had no puppet show, just a woman dressed up as Elsa who lip synced the words, then had the children all come up and sing the song into the microphone… each song they did this to played about 5 – 10 times. A photo op, a reading of the Golden book of Frozen and it was done. My 4,6 and 9 year olds thought it was just boring. Lots of sitting around listening to children yell into the microphone.

I recently had my child’s birthday party at this venue. It is certainly visually fun and colorful when you first walk in. I thought it would be different from the usual birthday places and I wanted something unique, so I opted for the puppet party. The day of the party we arrived to closed doors, I was a bit concerned but someone finally opened the doors and we went in. We were greeted by the puppeteer, an assistant and eventually the owner. When our guest started arriving the kids were led to a table for tattoos. As I displayed my goodie bags the owner asked if she could attach one of their promotion cards to our bags… Since we spent a lot of $$ on the bags, I wasn’t to keen with the thought, i didn’t want to take away the aesthetics. Anyway, onto the puppet show, what can I say, it was a joke. An audio tape told a silly made up story while the puppeteer used stuffed animals on sticks (I kid you not) and two marionettes to perform the story. Needless to say the kids lost interest quickly and it was hard sitting on those wooden benches. After wards, pizza was served… then the fifteen minutes dance party to strange gummy bear music (REALLY)…I’m not making this up… and finally cake… My guest couldn’t wait to get out of there… Which, as soon as the cake was done, they rang a bell and had all the kids line up, gave out the goodie bags and ushered everyone out… dont let the door hit you on the way. LOL…All this at the cost of $$$ …each child was counted as a guest, even the infant siblings that came along with the parents and didn’t participate, parents were also counted, food is a separate fee, 18% gratuity for service on the whole party price… for paper plates and cups, the staff didn’t even go around and ask guest if they wanted drinks, food… it was all self serve. Do yourself a favor… RUN!..

If you are thinking of doing a birthday here– think again! Biggest ripoff and mediocre entertainment. They charge for adults attending the party and the «dance party» was 15 min of limbo and 15 of some ridiculous gummy bear music. If you are looking for something different this is not the place!

5 stars for someone who is living their dream and entertaining Long Island families at the same time. This puppet theater is a true labor of love for the owners who have poured their hearts and souls into preserving and cultivating the art of puppetry. The outside of the place is cute but does nothing to prepare you for waits within. Every inch of this place from floor to ceiling has been intricately decorated to create a truly magical environment. One wall features a huge display of the owners puppet collection from all over the world. This main room serves as the waiting area before shows, includes the ticket window and souvenir stand and I believe also is used for parties. Beyond this room is the main puppet theater which features wooden benches for seating and a room that again every square inch is decorated. The puppet shows are generally around 45 minutes and afterward the kids can dance and meet some of the puppets. The owners have such passion for what they are doing that it’s infectious and you’ll feel like a little kid again. Pricing is $ 12 per person cash, $ 13 with credit. Plenty of parking in the area. If you show up and the door is locked, just knock and they will let you in. The website lists all the shows, running several times a day, usually they have 2 or 3 different shows. This place is great for toddlers/​pre-​schoolers.

Don’t not even think about going to this dump of a place. It was the worst experience ever. So expensive at $ 14 per person (including adults) It was not a puppet show, it was a VERY LOUD AND ANNOYING man screaming at gross stuffed animals. No music, or puppets talking. Just the screaming man. who even took a phone call during the performance. Wow… Don’t not waste you time, money and healthy eardrums at this place. NEVER EVER AGAIN.