When it comes to entertaining audiences, renowned master ventriloquist/impressionist Terry Fator, whose brand-new show “One Man, 100 Voices, a Thousand Laughs!” appears at The Strat, has more fun things up his sleeve than many magicians. No strings attached.
Of course, what Fator has up his sleeve (literally) is an entire cast of everyone’s favorite irascible puppets who, one at a time and in their own incorrigible and hilarious way, will leave no doubt a
bout where Fator’s hand has been. But that’s all part of the fun as the entertainer uses comedy, singing, impressions, and parody to make his menagerie of characters come alive. And that’s the magic of Terry Fator -- he has the uncanny ability to make his puppets seem real.
“The key is to make sure that the puppet acts like a human being,” Fator acknowledges. “The soft puppets have zero facial expressions and I’ve spent hours in front of the mirror cocking their heads in every direction to make it look like they have facial expressions. Where the hard puppets are concerned, their eyes move side to side just as a human being’s would. I have spent thousands of hours on this.”
“Terry Fator: One Man, a Hundred Voices, a Thousand Laughs!” is the multi-talented entertainer’s all-new multi-media, immersive Vegas production. His cast of characters showcases the rock, country, soul, pop, heavy metal, Rock ‘n Roll, R & B, opera, and Broadway hits that make up the soundtrack of our lives with Fator’s puppets doing right-on singing impressions of the likes of Garth Brooks, Lionel Richie, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Taylor Swift and a whole lot more, culminating in 100 voices from the beginning of the show to the end.
He even does a full-on singing puppet version on video screen of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which encompasses Fator doing Freddie Mercury and all the background vocals. At another point, he comes down into the audience and walks around with Kermit the Frog singing “The Rainbow Connection.” It all goes to show how successful you can be without moving your lips, even when you have a little frog in your throat.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of a show,” Fator exclaims. “It is more conducive to technology. I started having visions and dreams of what I wanted to do. I wanted to push myself and take myself to a new area. I’m a driven person and I was going to figure out how to do it. “
“Two years ago, I hired a production manager as creative on that side as I am on mine,” he continues. “He started getting visions, too. I wanted a video wall of the puppets around the theater. We went to The Strat and asked if it was going to work. Then, the head of the team came up with a very Disney-like concept in which the puppets come to life and talk to the audience and each other.”
As for those larger-than-life characters, Fator brings to the fore his right-hand puppet, Winston the Impersonating Turtle, along with Vikki “The Cougar,” country legend Walter T. Airdale, stoner Duggie Scott Walker, Julius the soul singer, the “World’s Greatest Elvis Impersonator” Maynard Thompkins, gay blade Berry Fabulous (who comically levitates in the show to the tune “define Gravity”), Berry’s polar opposite twin brother, sexy Latino Fernando, and Hyphen The Beatle. Fator lets each one’s personality come through on its own through movement, expressions, and voice.
“The puppets kind of speak to me,” Fator relates. “When I pick them up, I can relate”
“The hardest part to create was the ‘We Are the World’ segment, which I did several years ago,” he adds. “I had to emulate all the star voices in every style from female to low male. It’s taken ventriloquism to new heights.”
Fator became interested in puppetry and ventriloquism at the age of 10. After saving his money, he was able to buy his very first professional puppet when he was 18. The puppet “spoke” to him and he was able to come up with its name – Maynard Tompkins -- who has been in his show ever since. In a band for 25 years beginning in 1988 that performed three to five shows a day, Fator would bring Maynard to do a fun skit and sing country music. He became huge with the country and western clubs.
As he achieved some success, Fator was able to hire whom he calls the best puppetmaker in the world. He then spent tens of hours practicing and studying the Muppets over and over. He strove to make his puppets seem real, not just pieces of felt and wood. Fator was 42 when he won “America’s Got Talent” after practicing his craft for 32 years. While Maynard was his first, Winston is his overall favorite who, by the way, thinks HE won “America’s Got Talent” for the ventriloquist.
“These are my creations,” Fator explains. “I look at them very fondly. I feel that they are separate from me. I know I’m doing it but I can easily carry on conversations with them as though they are not part of me. I treat each one differently depending on what character each is.”
“Performing at the Strat is fulfilling a dream,” he sums up. “I’ve never been happier. I think this will be the show of my career.”
Hopefully, Winston will agree.
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