Nestled in Central Park, whisk yourselves away from the madness of Manhattan and into this little wooden jem. Let the glorious puppeteers tell their tales to your little ones and lose yourselves in the magic of Marionette.Delightful.
Great place to spend with your kids...in our case the grandkids
Went there for “Puss in boots” marionette show with our 3 year old daughter. We managed to sit through 30 min out of 40 and it was an ok show. It’s cheaper to buy tickets in house and you can do it right before the play. We payed about 32$ for two adults and one toddler, and the price online would be about 40$ for three of us (due to commission)
You can find the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre Just off 79th Street, near the Belvedere Castle. This 19th century cottage house was built in Sweden in 1875, shown in the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition the following year before being bought and moved to NYCs Central Park in 1877.The cottage is one of many interesting things to discover in Central Park. During its time here, it has served a variety of functions. However, since 1947, it has hosted marionette theatre performances, providing another family friendly form of leisure and entertainment. You can see the marionette performance schedule online at the cityparksfoundation website if interested.Even if you are not particularly interested in the performances, the cottage is still interesting to see if you end up spending time in this area of the park.. The cottage is a example of Swedish 19th century architecture and is of very nice craftsmanship. If youve not seen building types like this before, its well worth a quick look-see before making your way to other attractions in Central Park.
A perfect afternoon outing for the 10 and under crowd!
Pass by it during the day, it is actually a playhouse for those who love to go to the plays!!! Get it?
Excellent marionette shows! The puppeteers are incredibly skilled and the stories are wonderful for all ages!
Most beautiful - most magical!!Thank you!
Adorable show and easily accommodated our school trip at the last minute!
It was a little cute experience. I took my students here and they love it. I really recommend it.
Took my kids here over the summer to see The Princess The Emperor and The Duck. Excellently performed and my children (as well as myself) enjoyed it, immensely. I was very impressed with the authentic accents of the cast. Ready to head there again in the Fall for the Holiday Show! Would definitely recommend taking your little ones.
Cute show for young kids. We watch Puss the cat.
Had a good time. Children will enjoy themselves watching the marionette show
Great childrens programs.
It was a great place and performance, our son who is 5.5 yr really liked it
It was a very cute show. I watched Yeti!Set Snow with my toddler. I think it is best for 3 to 5 year olds.
Is very nice for children. We got a good time
Its very cool. A very sophisticated puppet show. My 2 years old daughter was captivated for the whole show. Its not too long not too short and the peter pan story is very well executed
Beautiful cottage in central park.
Wonderful experience for children and adults.
A hidden gem in Central Park, what a great time. Little red riding hood with a modern twist. Smart, funny and entertaining for the whole family. Our 3 and 5 had an absolute blast they are begging to come back and we definately will for this season. The staff and actors did a great a job. The price is more than reasonable, specially when you leave with such a great memory. Thanks guys. Good job!
Nice to take the family for a weekend
It was a beautiful show. The kids loved it . The only problem were the parents who werent able to follow instructions and didnt care if the children were able to see or not. The staff do make several announcements about the seating arrangements.Like
Amazing little marionette theater!
School trip to see Yeti, set go. It was so very entertaining the kids and all the parents loved it. Its a must see!!
Wonderful for children and adults! Great story and presentation.
Not our best use of NYC money, but our 5-yr-old enjoyed it. The rest of us (2 parents +17, 15, and 11-yr-olds) only enjoyed the Kindergartners reactions. I wish we had sent one person in with her, instead. The marionette skill was not as high as to keep older interest (I thought we would enjoy the technical part of it, but didnt) and the story was barely interesting for kids--they really need to update and have more audience participation or have more jokes geared at kids. It had a LOT of dialogue. The voice acting was poor in parts. It got started 15 minutes later because they wait to see how much space is filled from online sales before they let the day-of buyers purchase. Seats are hard benches and they encourage kids to be up front where they can see (but that means you may be watching the show alone instead of as a family). I wish I had checked Yelp first.
Super cute show, the kids loved it.
The puppets were kinda creepy, the story and dialogue was not interesting enough to keep the kids in the audience engaged, but the worse part was how misogynist and racist the play is. Some of it is in the source material, but some parts were added to make the female characters worse. The mythical native character Tiger Lillys portrayal is...very difficult to watch. I dont understand why they made the decisions they did. I looked up the board and its predominantly female. I dont know if they did it with malicious intent, or if it was simple laziness. There is so much good theater in NYC. Dont waste your time here until they do better.
Very unusuall and nice place
The theater was nice and the show was fun! The seats are a bit uncomfortable.
Great puppet show for kids. Very interactive.
It was a beautiful show. The kids loved it . The only problem were the parents who werent able to follow instructions and didnt care if the children were able to see or not. The staff do make several announcements about the seating arrangements.
Its a great show, at a reasonable price. Im giving it four stars because they are not the most accommodating; I had purchased about 4 tickets in advanced and called a few hours before the show was starting to see if I could use my tickets the following day because I realized I wasnt going to be able to make it on time that day (life with a toddler could be unpredictable) and they simply said no... I wasted my money and was pretty aggravated (but Im still going back!)
Best puppet shows for children in NYC.
Charming theatre with great staff and performers!
Nice little place with a puppet theatre and beatiful garden in the heart of Central Park.
Reasonably priced...Go & take the kids, there gonna love it!!
Very engaging and entertaining for kids...my 4 year old loved it
Such a charming little place. Free puppet show that was funny for my 1.5 and 3.5 year olds and entertaining enough for me to watch with them.
Great experience. Fun for 3-7 year olds.
Very nice place!!
Great for kids. This particular show was alright.
A small but cozy place to visit with the entire family.
I recently took my very active 5 year old son to watch Bessies Big Shot at this quaint little theatre in Central Park. While apprehensive at first, as hes not much into puppet shows as compared to more rugged activities, he throughly enjoyed the show! It was comical, entertaining and the perfect length of time (~45 minutes).
A true jewel nestled in the middle of central park -- with master puppeteers that really love their jobs.
Really great for children. However, always have difficulty getting tickets for the weekend. For a halloween and christmas show, they only put put 1 performance on the weekend but several during the week. Really wish they would put more shows on the weekends for working mothers like myself. Gutted that I cant take my daughter to the Halloween or Christmas show as there are no more tickets left on the weekends. How about putting 3 shows on Saturday and Sunday instead of 1?
Brilliant marionette performance space that is a favorite with every visitor young and old!
Wonderful for children, door opens 30 mins before show. air conditioned. Private parties available.
One of my parents work here! The show was ADORABLE!!!
Cute cottage tucked away in central park
Caught a holiday show at the cottage. Cute place, good for kids.
Such a unique place. Totally worth seeing
Theatre is lovely and in a great location, the performance was average at best.
Went to see LIttle Reds Hood with 3 and 5 year olds. The cottage and area are very cute BUT the show itself could have been so much better. It is aimed at small children but the plot and dialogue were so convoluted and annoying and too long for their short attention spans. Even the first graders that were there did not get it....The singing numbers were awesome and if only they had more of that and other action vs. talking would ve been great. Such a huge potential in that place..everything was super...the acting and the puppets, the stage the, lighting ..if only you did not want to strangle the red riding hood for TALKING incessantly about nonsense..which I see was the point but maybe a bit of that in the beginning wouldve been sufficient.If you are going to remake a classic story for very young children make it fun and not so hip....
Love them
Do not attend their Hansel and Gretal Halloween show. It is so scary! Skeletons and pirates fighting with knives. A paying customer starts at 18 months. We left within the first 5 mins because my 3 year old was crying. We came back in 5 mins later and he was fine for a couple mins till the scene changed to a dark and very loud scene. Talk about overload! They wouldnt even give me my money back!
Conveniently located in the center of the universe (Central Park next to the Delacorte Theater, New York City, Earth), this place ought to be the worlds prime marionette theater. Instead it is mediocre to awful. The original stories are boring and the shows are too loud. Our 3 year old asked to go home after watching 20 minutes of silly songs and pointless plots.However, because I believe it has such incredible potential, Ill give it the benefit of the doubt one last time and take my young to see Pippi.
Great hidden gem in the Central Park!!
Nice and unique, staff needs to be nicer. Other than that its an ok place.
Great old childrens institution of the city
A magical place for children and even for adults
Fun reasonable priced puppet shows for the kids.
Around in NY. In central park
A very unique experience, worth the time.
Wonderful marionettes to bring the kids
Great food & service!
Amazing!
Fantastic show for the kiddo
Great place in the park!
Charming and sweet.
Classic.
Quaint and historic
I love it
Great experience
DEAR GOD THAT WAS HORRIBLE
Theatrical!
Good
Really enjoyed the show
Nice!!
Beautiful!
Great experience!!! Loved it!!!
Well done and kids loved it!
Ghourri Smart Art