The Black Jack Show at Orlando Fringe Credit: Courtesy Photo

Walking into the darkened Scarlet venue, audience members are greeted by an eerie black curtained box beneath a spotlight in the middle of the stage. After a few moments of anticipation, Black and Jack pop up — no, not Jack Black, but the punk-rocker and ham-actor characters puppeteered by writer-director Charles Hill — and introduce themselves as hosts of the variety show we are about to witness. 

Soon, whatever questions we might have multiply as the show proper begins, and out pops a Coronavirus particle. Not just any Coronavirus particle, but a singing one, with a voice provided by assistant puppeteer Leann Hill. After a protracted pitchy musical number (the first of three) the production proceeds to a shaky shadow puppetry sequence, a mummy that tells maddeningly meandering tales, and two nearly-identical demonstrations of miniature marionettes that are mostly invisible to much of the audience. It mercifully wraps up around the 50-minute mark with a ripoff of Sesame Street’s The Count telling tepid vampire dad jokes. 

Be prepared that most of these half-baked bits overstay their welcome, and repetitive segments may leave viewers feeling like they have déjà vu. Hill struggles to settle on an appropriate tone, and does not showcase any particular mastery of puppetry technique, while the overall pacing of the show is glacial at best. One exception that does work are the hand puppet transitions between each act, performed by Leann. Light and funny, they cleverly comment on the preceding acts, and last exactly the right amount of time.

The Black Jack Show isn’t snappy enough to hold youngsters’ interests, and isn’t sophisticated enough to please adult puppetry aficionados, begging the question of exactly who this production is supposed to be for. On the other hand, after ingesting a beer or three this might just end up becoming 2026’s answer to 2016’s La Zuppa (IYKYK).

St. Vitus Theatre Co. (Orlando, FL)
Scarlet Venue, Orlando Family Stage
60 minutes; 13 and up
Tickets: $12

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This article appears in Orlando Fringe 2026.