Interview: Jack Utrata Talks PAW PATROL LIVE and Why Working With Kids is in His Blood
By: Stephi Wild Mar. 24, 2017
Paw Patrol Live, an interactive kids' show based on the hit animated series Paw Patrol, is currently touring the country, making stops at 90 cities throughout the U.S. It is playing Madison Square Garden March 23-26.
It's the day of the Great Adventure Bay Race between Adventure Bay's Mayor Goodway and Foggy Bottom's Mayor Humdinger, but Mayor Goodway is nowhere to be found. PAW Patrol to the rescue! Ryder summonS Marshall, Chase, Skye, Rubble, Rocky, Zuma and Everest to help. The pups share many lessons for all ages as they make heroic rescues on their race to the finish line.
Jack Utrata, who plays Chase and Jake, recently chatted with BroadwayWorld about his experiences in the show, the intricate puppetry work that is unlike anything he's done, and why he loves working with kids. Check out the full interview below!
What has the experience with working on Paw Patrol been like for you so far?
We went to Evansville, Indiana for tech and then opened there, and it's been a wild ride. The quality of the show is really incredible. It's almost like Broadway style quality for a kid's show. It's electric. It's really fun being a part of because not only is it based off the show that kids know and love, it really replicates that really well with the songs that kids know and the same characters, and even some original songs. For me, it's getting to work with this style of puppetry. You can actually see a similar style in The Lion King on Broadway in the Pumbaa costume, where you're standing inside of the costume and out the top. It's really neat because we're not in full-body costumes like some other live shows based off television animation. So for this one our face is in full view of the audience and we're on all fours, we have the tail, we can wag it. So that's what makes this show a little bit different and exciting because you go and actually see these dogs on stage and they're talking to you and blinking their eyes.
I think if I were a kid in the audience I'd be freaking out. I've been able to do that a couple times, to be a kid in the audience, because of our wonderful swings. We have some swing-outs every once in a while, so I sit in the audience and watch the show unfold. Our performance director asked us what's one word to describe it. I was between two words because I couldn't settle on one. It was adorable and electric. It's just been really cool.
One of the main things about touring with a show for me is getting to see the country. I haven't really done travelling other than California or Atlanta or D.C. I haven't been to the rural parts of the country and that's been really fun. Now I know that I would really like to go back to Omaha, Nebraska, randomly. I never thought that would be a thing. But it's been so great. The people that you meet and the foods in some cities, and of course getting to perform for these kids. It's often their first time seeing a production and that's an incredible feeling.
What has the reaction been like from the kids, have they been loving it?
Oh my gosh, it's like a rock concert. They are screaming and shouting out, they want their characters to wave to them. I heard "Chase!" or "Rider!" or "Marshall!" all the time. The kids come dressed up, it's like Halloween. They're dressed as their favorite pups, they're waving around their little light up wands or they're wearing full-body costume or maybe they just have a hat on or something. They love it. It's really funny because they're screaming at intermission and screaming after because they're like "we don't want it to be over, play it again, play it again!" A lot of kids don't know how to separate the T.V. show from what's actually happening on stage, that it's a live performance. Which, as a performer, is one of the best compliments ever, not being to tell if it's a T.V. show. They're loving it, they're on board. They're having a great time. Their parents are probably, in their eyes, their heroes for that. But it's hard to get them out of the theatre and back home.
It seems like you haven't done anything like this before, so how has this been different from the past shows that you've done?
I do a lot of straight plays, I also do some musicals and things, so there's that showmanship that's required for every show. But I've never done a puppet-style theatre piece. I have done a kids' show before but it was back when I was in high school and community theatre so I don't include that in my credits. But it was a very strange production of Aladdin. It was set in China. It was not very P.C., like I played the emperor of China, before I knew that that probably wasn't the strongest career move. I guess in high schools, people put on productions of West Side Story or In the Heights and not have the right demographic for that.
But I worked in the kids' arena. My first job was as a camp counselor for the YMCA. I worked in the kindergarten-preschool age. We would get in touch with those kids, and they have the most vivid and playful imaginations, they're just on board with everything. So being in a show that stays within that demographic, it's really wonderful. Being unfamiliar with this style of puppetry, or puppetry in general, it took a little while. We were introduced to it slowly. We learned the choreography first and the songs and all the blocking, and then slowly they would introduce the body of the puppet. Now of course it's second nature. Sometimes I'll be talking to someone on the street and I'm moving my fingers as if I was in the puppet. But yeah, working on this show has been totally different from anything I've done before.
You mentioned that the puppetry was a big draw for you, was that what drew you to the show initially? What solidified you wanting to be a part of this production?
It was a combination of being able to travel as well as the fact that it was a kids show and also that it was a phenomenon. I had not heard of Paw Patrol because I don't really have young nieces or nephews. When I found out, I watched the episodes and I was like, who wouldn't love this show? It's so fun. The messages that it teaches, like teamwork and problem solving, citizenship, even self-esteem, are really groundbreaking. I think it's really an incredible draw. So for me, it was the opportunity to travel as well as to perform for kids.
Do you have any particularly memorable moments from this experience that you want to share?
I just think any piece of artistic creation is structured around the cast dynamic and I think we have a really strong dynamic as a cast. If anything ever goes wrong, or even to make everything go right, there have been some times where things don't go exactly as planned and it's alright. We have each other's backs so much, and that's really incredible. If someone's mic goes out or something, someone is on the next line. And it doesn't matter who says it because we've got people covered.
It's a rock concert. The ushers sometimes have to stop the kids from climbing right up onstage. We encourage them to have a little kid mosh pit in front of the stage but one time we had a girl, at the end of act one, made it past the usher. The curtain was coming down and she was on the stage. It was just the cutest thing, like oh my goodness. That doesn't happen all the time. I think that theatre is really important for any line of work. I'm out there performing and I'm thinking that this is the first time a lot of kids are experiencing this. They're future generations of Tony nominees or lawyers or doctors or whatever. Theatre is so important for any line of work that requires public speaking or any of that. To be a part of this is really sensational and kind of a dream.
For more information and for tickets to Paw Patrol Live, visit pawpatrollive.com.
Photo Credit: Billy B Photography
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