Coachella 2026 boasts an impressive lineup filled with the hottest pop stars, musicians on the rise, legacy punk acts and … puppets?
Yes!
Between chart-dominating artists and the next generation of music greats, a group of puppets and puppeteers from the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Los Angeles will head to the Empire Polo Club to indulge in some marionette mayhem! Since the 1960s, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater has been enchanting audiences across the City of Angels and beyond with wildly entertaining lip-sync performances and impressive song-and-dance numbers.
You catch the Bob Baker Marionettes—the first group of puppets and puppeteers to play Coachella!—on Friday, April 10 and April 17.
“We’re super-excited to be on such a big stage and be able to join the show,” shared MJ Thompson, director of communications at Bob Baker Marionette Theater, during a recent phone interview.
While the idea of marionettes at Coachella may seem odd, this isn’t the BBMT’s first foray into the musical world. Throughout their history, the theater has contributed props to a number of great musicians, opened for Beck, and even had a slot at Desert Daze in 2022.
“We have done festivals like Desert Daze and things like that in the past, so this kind of felt like a natural progression—but it was super-delightful to get that email (from Coachella), for sure,” Thompson said.
Music is at the core of every performance by the Bob Baker Marionettes.
“We’ve worked with music, and we have regular concerts all the time,” Thompson said. “We have a concert series called School House Rocks at the theater, where musicians come perform, and we puppeteer alongside them. It’s super-fun.”
Although the stage at Coachella may be bigger than what the puppets are used to, Thompson promised that the performances would be maximized.
“We want to get as many puppets as we can onstage, as many puppeteers, and bring all the surprises and just the overall spectacle to the stage, and bring our specific brand of joy, as we like to say, to this huge weekend,” she said.
Per the BBMT website: “Our puppet family consists of 3,000 members with many old timers dating back to Bob Baker’s earliest puppetry days in the 1940s.” Thompson said both Coachella weekends will feature some of the theater’s most memorable marionettes, as well as some new ones.
“Our whole guiding principle is ‘joy for everyone,’ so when you come see the show, no matter your age, no matter if you know our puppets or not, you get this joyful experience,” Thompson said.
Even after six-plus decades, the BBMT continues to seek new avenues where their puppets can amplify the importance of artistic expression.
“It’s really at the heart of our mission,” Thompson said. “We’re a nonprofit theater, and our mission is to preserve, educate and innovate at the intersection of puppetry and allied arts. For us, the allied arts means all of these different types of artistic disciplines that we interact with all the time. Our shows heavily involve music, and we love to be able to share how puppetry and music are linked, and explore new, innovative ways that we can combine the two: ‘How can we partner with musicians for something that’s truly innovative to see? How can we showcase how music and puppetry are related?’ That’s definitely at the heart of our mission, showcasing these different kinds of arts with puppetry.”
Coachella attendees may see the placement of the Bob Baker Marionettes on the lineup as the latest in a series of “fun band” bookings, as the past few years have featured sets from the kid-friendly television band Yo Gabba Gabba! and the costumed, pizza-loving Aquabats. Thompson said she hopes the marionettes open Coachella goers’ minds, on top of offering fun festival vibes.
“We obviously are for all ages, but I think sometimes people think puppets are for kids,” she said. “Hopefully the show will be eye-opening for some folks, and show that puppetry is for everyone. It is a way to engage in wonder and imagination and joy for all ages, and I think people will see that at our show.”
“Our shows heavily involve music, and we love to be able to share how puppetry and music are linked, and explore new, innovative ways that we can combine the two: ‘How can we partner with musicians for something that’s truly innovative to see? How can we showcase how music and puppetry are related?’”
MJ Thompson, director of communications at Bob Baker Marionette Theater
Playing Coachella is one of a few highlights for the BBMT this year—because in May, the theater will put on its first new show in 40 years.
“We’re over 60 years old, but our theater is incredibly active,” Thompson said. “It’s a huge year for us filled with milestones, from Coachella to our first new show in 40 years, which is Choo Choo Revue. It’s a really exciting time.”
Of course, the BBMT is consistently adding to their impressive roster of over 3,000 puppets.
“We have an active workshop that not just preserves our puppets that are 60 to 70 years old and perform every day, but is also making new puppets,” she said. “The new show will have hundreds of new puppets. We call ourselves a living theater, and every time you see a show, even if it is a show like our Halloween show that we do every year, there’s always something a little different. We’re always updating, always changing, and always making something new.”
The BBMT wants more collaborations between the theater and artists from all genres.
“We’ve collaborated with so many other musicians and artists, from Brandy and Monica on their recent tour, to Lil Nas X, to Tyler Childers,” Thompson said. “We really do see that it goes across genres. The theater is a little nostalgic, but we’re always doing stuff with new artists and new genres.”
Learn more at www.bobbakermarionettetheater.com.
Edited to correct a headline typo.
