A variety show, ranging all the way from the Geishas of far Japan to the Corrides de Toros of Spain is now playing at the Plymouth Theatre coming from a successful run in New York. Performed by marionettes operated by several Italian families, the divertissement is accompanied by an able group of singers. It is presented by S. Hurok under the auspices of the American Theatre Society.

While art is subordinated to the shy mocking burlesque peculiar to the puppet, color schemes and settings by Bruno Angoletta are forceful and direct. The leading puppets preserve the illusion of being life size while the "business" in the show is carried on by "minor puppets" carved by peasants of the wood-carving school of Val Gardena, Alps.

The variety opens with a series of acrobatic acts that shame most of our local vandeville. There are clowns, a night in Venice, and a bull-fight bloody and violent. Part two is an Oriental suite with singing and romancing. The scene then transfers to the tropics. Singing in the rain is the overture number followed by a Salome and sister act. A presentation in the manner and spirit of Josephine Baker was realistic, seductive, and sung by Lia Podrecca.

Unlike the Tony Sarg productions, no serious effort is made at realism. The puppets are a race apart, talented and entertaining, but with the temperament of a Pinocchio. It is scarcely possible to describe "The Piccoli" as a mere puppet show, it is rather a carnival, acted by an immense cast under the aegis of a group of maestros in the art of manipulating marionettes.