For Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Choo Choo Revue is more than a show. It's a statement

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The Bob Baker Marionette Theater was about to debut its first new production in 45 years, and it was uncertain whether one of the show’s signature new puppets would even work.A pelican, with an oversized bucket-like beak, was in need of last-minute maintenance.

This gangly bird, designed to hop, skip, soar and sing to Clarence Henry’s mid-’50s rhythm and blues hit “Ain’t Got No Home,” was supposed to surprise the audience, as its elongated bill is actually hiding a frog.Getting the pelican-frog duo to perform in unison was a feat of mechanical artistry for the team, not to mention the choreography needed by the puppeteer.

And in the minutes before showtime, director Alex Evans was trying to stay calm.In such moments, he would say later, he only need remind himself of an old adage in the puppet arts.

“Puppets,” he says, “break all the time.”With that, he was ready to embrace the unknown.“I always say I love the chaos of live theater,” Evans says.

“We got to believe in this thing.”“Choo Choo Revue,” the latest in a long line of song-and-dance productions, is arriving at a momentous time for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater.Just last month the troupe announced its intent to purchase its venue on Highland Park’s York Boulevard for $5 million, doing so as it was gearing up for performances at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

The latter went viral, a fact Evans attributes to many of the first week shows of “Choo Choo Revue” selling out.In many ways, “Choo Choo Revue” is a statement piece.

Evans, who also serves as co-executive director with Mary Fagot, wants to place the spotlight on the theater’s current crop of artists, fabricators and collaborators.While the show pays tribute in many ways to the theater’s legendary namesake founder, perhaps most notably in its use of his vintage record collection, it’s time, Evans s...