Bob Baker’s Coachella debut
Los Angeles’s Bob Baker Marionette Theater, an institution that has struggled financially in recent years, appeared on the Coachella lineup this year, bringing puppetry into a festival bill that also featured major pop names. (nytimes.com). The appearance is being reported as an unusual cultural crossover for the festival’s programming mix. (nytimes.com).
Bob Baker Marionette Theater, the 62-year-old Los Angeles puppet company, made its Coachella debut on April 10 with a 40-minute set in the Gobi Tent. (usatoday.com) The troupe is scheduled to return for Coachella’s second Friday, April 17, from 2:55 to 3:35 p.m. in the Gobi Tent, and Coachella’s official site lists the festival’s two 2026 weekends as April 10-12 and April 17-19 in Indio. (yahoo.com) (coachellavalley.com) Coachella’s 2026 lineup announcement put Bob Baker on a bill topped by Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G, Anyma, the xx, the Strokes, Young Thug and BigBang. Bob Baker’s own site told audiences simply: “We’re going to Coachella!” and listed performances for both Fridays. (coachellavalley.com) (bobbakermarionettetheater.com) The set itself was built for a festival crowd, not the theater’s usual in-the-round shows. Los Angeles Times reporting said hundreds packed the Gobi Tent on April 10 for a show with more puppets on one stage than the company had used before. (yahoo.com) That performance mixed Bob Baker regulars with pop cues aimed squarely at Coachella. The Los Angeles Times described sequined host Pink Cat, can-can poodles, dancing cacti and a routine set to Ben Platt’s cover of Addison Rae’s “Diet Pepsi.” (yahoo.com) The booking lands in the middle of a separate turning point for the theater’s finances. This week, local reports said Bob Baker entered an agreement to buy its Highland Park building for $5 million after years as a renter there. (theeastsiderla.com) (ktla.com) Tax filings show why that matters. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer lists the theater at $3.94 million in revenue, $2.56 million in expenses and $1.87 million in liabilities for 2024, after it reported $2.26 million in revenue in 2023. (projects.propublica.org) Bob Baker has been in Los Angeles since 1963, when Bob Baker and Alton Wood opened the theater, and the company says it has served more than 1 million children. The city designated the original theater a Historic-Cultural Monument in 2009. (bobbakermarionettetheater.com) (ktla.com) The company’s recent instability started before Coachella came calling. Bob Baker left its longtime downtown-area home in 2019 after redevelopment plans forced a move, and later signed a 10-year lease in Highland Park after searching more than 80 spaces. (laist.com) (yahoo.com) So the Coachella slot did two jobs at once: it put marionettes in front of a festival crowd that usually comes for pop stars, and it arrived days after the theater moved to secure a permanent home in Los Angeles. (coachellavalley.com) (theeastsiderla.com)
