“Who loves puppets?” John C. Reilly calls out. The actor’s query is answered with a chorus of enthusiastic woos. “Me too!” he cries.

We’re at the Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles—the oldest active Italian society in America—where attendees in quirky tulle prom dresses, twee handmade corsages, and funky bolo ties have dropped to their knees to shimmy, shake, and shoot videos of a crowd of marionettes promenading across the dance floor.

Puppets are, after all, the main draw at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater’s Puppet Prom—the 63-year-old organization’s third annual fundraiser—where Reilly, dressed in a three-piece suit and bowler hat topped with decorative birds and plastic flowers, serves as (puppet) master of ceremonies. (At one point, he chuckles at the sight of a marionette performing an uncanny rendition of “Mister Cellophane,” his number in 2002’s Chicago.)

Mary Fagot, the theater’s co-executive director, calls the Puppet Prom a “backstage party with the puppets”—and the proceedings match that description. Guests flutter about the balloon-strewn room, filling their cups from a negroni fountain and squealing with delight at Pink Cat, a cotton candy-colored feline marionette that coquettishly blinks and swishes her tail.

Together with artistic director Alex Evans, with whom she has run the nonprofit theater since 2023, Fagot “wanted to create fundraisers that were also invitations to be creative, to use your imagination, and experience joy,” she says.

“The joy machine that is Bob Baker Marionette Theater is unquestionably what kept me not only creatively inspired, but also alive during my years living in LA,” echoes Sam Pinkleton, the Tony Award-winning director of Oh, Mary! and The Rocky Horror Show. “It is, without question, my favorite cultural institution in America. I’m not a doctor, but I’m absolutely certain that the marionettes can heal any wound.”

Since 1963, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater has entertained children and adults alike with its whimsical programming, first in a former scenic shop near downtown Los Angeles, and later—in the years after Baker’s death in 2014—in a converted movie theater in Highland Park. Proceeds from the Puppet Prom have proven instrumental in supporting the artists, craftspeople, and workers behind the theater’s much-adored marionette shows, from Hooray LA!, a production celebrating the culture of the city, to the forthcoming Choo Choo Revue, the theater’s first new show in 40 years.

In fact, this year’s prom was the most elaborate yet. Not only did Reilly play emcee, but he also delighted the room with a suite of on-theme ditties (“I’m Your Puppet”; “Am I a Toy or a Treasure?”), accompanied by singer Sierra Ferrell and the seven-piece New Orleans jazz-style band The California Feet Warmers. Later in the night, the producer, DJ, and artist Kindness—whose collaborators have included Robyn, Solange, and Dev Hynes—kept the floor moving with a steady stream of club classics.

There was good reason for the pomp and circumstance: a little over two weeks ago, the BBMT announced its “In LA to Stay” campaign, during which it aimed to raise $5 million in capital to buy the theater’s current building, and another $2 million for needed renovations. Ahead of the prom, the campaign had already found several benefactors, including Wallis Annenberg, the Chris and Melody Malachowsky Family Foundation, and longtime supporters actor Jack Black and his wife, folk artist Tanya Haden. By the final dance, Puppet Prom had reached its $100,000 goal, netting a generous matching donation on top of that. (At the time of writing, the theater is continuing to fundraise through a live auction and cash donations.)

For the community surrounding it, BBMT is an irreplaceable resource. “I’ve been coming to Bob Baker’s marionette shows since my kids were small,” Reilly says. “It is one of the most original and creative theater companies Los Angeles has ever had, inspiring generation after generation of young—and older—minds.”

“So many of our members delight in the work the BBMT does, from going there as children to bringing their grandkids there today,” adds Nicole Infante, director of the Garibaldina Society, which has donated its space for the Puppet Prom each year. “There wasn’t a discussion of if we should help, it was how—and will we get to pet the puppets!”

The BBMT recently attracted a raft of new admirers at Coachella, where it performed a soulful rendition of Addison Rae’s “Diet Pepsi” as covered by Ben Platt, and welcomed geese—as in, a Mother Goose puppet wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella, trailed by her tiny goslings—onstage as special guests.

“There’s never been a moment in all my time here where I felt that the future was certain for us until now,” says Fagot. “I went to see the last show of Hooray LA!, and I sat there looking at the audience and thinking, these kids and their kids’ kids, everybody’s gonna have access to this experience, and I cried. It’s important not just for kids, but for all of LA culture.”