MUPPETS The Broadway Musical

[jetts7]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 6:41pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Disney-Theatrical-Productions-Bringing-THE-MUPPETS-to-Broadway-in-Live-Stage-Show-20130611

Yes. Just yes.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 7:04pm

Honestly, I'd like to see a live version of The Muppet Christmas Carol, with all the deleted material restored, around holiday time, a hell of a lot more than I would A Christmas Story, Elf or White Christmas.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 7:14pm

I'd love a classic THE MUPPET SHOW-style musical with different stuff and guest stars every week, but obviously there'd need to be rehearsal time for different sketches and songs and all that and like one performance a week. lol.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 8:20pm

^ So just bring back The Muppet Show on TV, is what you're saying?

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 8:40pm

Or that, too... anything Muppet-related is just fine with me. :) lol.

[Jonwo]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 8:54pm

I love the Muppets but i think any musical or stage version would get comparisons to Avenue Q. They're so many Muppets that I imagine that they would concentrate on Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie etc as it would be hard to include all of them.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 8:54pm

Having a bit of experience with Muppets (involvement in the last movie), I'd say that a live Broadway production would present astounding difficulties.

1. Those fuzzy folks are damn small. (Kermit stands 2' tall on a good day.) So getting to actually see the interaction between one character and another would require some sort of giant video screen setup to carry the images to the back of the house. Line up a cast of 20 and you'd have used up about 12' to 15' of the stage. What do you do with the rest of a standard Broadway proscenium?

2. Muppet sets are constructed on a false stage 3' above the subfloor where the puppeteers stand. You know how much you guys hate it when the stage deck is raised a few inches off the floor, right? Sounds like a stage excavation cost would be involved here...

3. Writing a story that can sustain 90 minutes onscreen is hard enough, never mind creating a full 2-hour theater script with these guys. Don't kill me for saying it but my belief is there isn't really enough depth in these characters to carry the emotional peaks and valleys of an entire evening's entertainment.

4. I think the true value of the Muppets is as a conduit to a wonderful sense of nostalgia for our youth, and when the movies exploited that well, those movies soared. Who out there doesn't think the best sequence in the recent movie was seeing the gang join hands to harmonize with Kermit in singing that old favorite, the Rainbow Connection? Humans, villains, all the rest paled in comparison to reliving the moments that we remembered from our childhoods.

My guess is the smart folks at DTP will come to the same conclusion and instead decide to mount a dandy half-hour stage show to grace the Disney Theme Parks from Orlando to Tokyo to smashing success.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 9:03pm

A muppets show could work if it was mixed in with a human story. It would make the muppets moments special.

But as stated earlier, I think the humor would be lost at a distance. You need to be able to have closeups.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 9:08pm

I'm not a puppet/Muppet expert, but how big were the puppets used in AVENUE Q at the Golden compared to a normal Muppet? (Kermit, Gonzo, etc.) If Disney decided to put this proposed Muppet show in a small house, I think it could work...?

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 9:19pm

I can't answer re Avenue Q, but Gonzo and Kermit were both about 2', Piggy is closer to 3' and Fozzie (one of the larger of the principals) was about 3 1/2'.

We're still talking about characters the size of a cat or dog carrying a show.

As soon as you put humans in the room, you reinforce the tinyness of the Muppets, which is why blocking in the old TV show always positioned the Muppets well downstage of the humans, to equalize scale somewhat for the camera.

Updated On: 6/11/13 at 09:19 PM

[justincharacter]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 9:38pm

If they happen to mix in humans with the story, I'm all up for Amy Adams and Neil Patrick Harris (even though I doubt he'll be interested, I can still dream though)!

[Xman8]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 9:43pm

I must audition as a muppeteer if this comes to fruition.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 9:44pm

I would think it would be staged the same way Avenue Q was with their puppets. And I'll second it should be A Muppets Christmas Carol or The Muppets Take Manhattan.

[zamedy]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 10:21pm

I absolutely love THE MUPPETS and was pleasantly surprised and relieved to see their history treated with such detail and respect in last year's movie. They are an American institution. Some of my fondest memories from childhood are watching the Muppet movies. The collective scores from THE MUPPET MOVIE, THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER and THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN are wonderful (All three received Oscar nominations for Best Original Score or Original Song). I could watch the finale to MANHATTAN over and over again.

With all that said, maybe it's just best to keep those memories on the screen and not the stage. As others have mentioned, a lot would be lost in the distance between stage and the middle and back of the house.

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 10:36pm

The official Muppeteers did "The Muppets Live" as a special event a few years ago, with special guest stars like Jon Voigt and everything. It seemed like a pretty intensive event, though.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/11/13 at 11:14pm

Thank God the idiots in cartoon costumes in Times Square have not started out using Muppet costumes.

[blaxx]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 12:51am

Will Janice be the lead?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 1:00am

Could this be the Disney musical Pasek and Paul are working on?

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 2:26am

^ no, next person that asks this gets a glove to the face. Pasek & paul are working on the score for a show based on the 2010 documentary Make Believe.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 4:55am

I don't see it working. Ave Q was for adults that would have no issue with fully seeing the puppeteers hand up the butt of the puppet. The Muppets have the illusion of being "real".

I love me some muppets, but right now, I can't see this. Wouldn't mind be proven wrong.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 6:16am

I wonder if this is Disney movie Pasek and Paul are working on.

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 6:33am

I agree with dramamma. With Ave Q, it for adults, who can pretend the puppeteers aren't there, and seeing the puppeteers is almost part of the parody that is Ave Q. But could you imagine little kids going to this show and being able to SEE the puppeteers after all those movies where it is carefully written and shot as to NOT see the puppeteers? It would crush some kids.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 6:40am

Taz -- if only anyone knew that answer!


The other issue: I dread what an audience of muppet lovers might look like. If its anything like the other children's shows that tour, I cannot imagine I would go.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 6:47am

For real dramamama, I can't imagine myself actually going to a live theater version of the muppets.

It seems like it would be similar to those touring Disney on ice shows. I'll pass.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/12/13 at 8:42am

That's what I was thinking, Taz. Maybe they can do a few adults only shows -- gosh, I love the muppets.


On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd shell out $130 bucks to see the Muppets on stage.