If you listen carefully, you can probably hear Brian Henson grinding his teeth all the way out there in Hollywood.
Why for? Well, for over 10 years now, various employees of the Jim Henson Company had been trying to convince Brian that he really should take the Muppets to Manhattan. As in: The Henson organization should try & mount some sort of Broadway show featuring Kermit & Co.
But Brian always resisted the idea. Again why for? Well, mostly because his Dad had tried to mount a similar sort of show back in the late 1960s / early 1970s for NYC’s Lincoln Center (Want proof? Then get yourself a copy of “Jim Henson’s Designs & Doodles: A Muppet Sketchbook.” [Harry N. Abrams, September 2003]. That volume actually features some of Jim’s concept sketches for this proposed Broadway show).
Unfortunately, Jim was never actually able to find a way around the visibility issue. As in: Given that puppets are so small, the show would probably prove to be quite entertaining for the folks in the first few rows of the theater. But not so much for the people at the very back of the hall.
To alleviate this problem, Henson actually experimented with building enormous puppets. Creatures that were 25-feet-tall or taller. All with the hope that these Mega-Muppets (as these creations were affectionately dubbed) could then easily be spotted by the folks sitting at the back of Lincoln Center.
But the oversized puppets — due to their huge size & weight — proved to be quite ungainly. More importantly, really difficult to operate. Which was why Jim appears to have eventually put his Muppets-on-Broadway ambitions on hold. Preferring to concentrate his efforts on mediums that were much more puppet-friendly — like film & television.
And — given that his Dad was never able to make this idea work — well, I guess you can understand why Brian was somewhat reluctant to try his hand at the whole Muppets-on-Broadway thing.
Mind you, the Jim Henson Company — under Brian’s watch — did take at least three stabs at doing theatrical stuff. In 1998, the Jim Henson Creature Shop created all the animal puppets used in a London-based stage musical version of 20th Century Fox’s 1967 release, “Doctor Dolittle.” Back in 2002, the company also produced the puppets used in the “Encores!” revival of “Carnival” at City Center. And — just last year — the Henson organization created an all-new version of Audrey II, the giant man-eating plant, which is featured in the Broadway revival of “Little Shop of Horrors.”
But — based on what I’ve heard from Henson insiders — Jim’s son was never all that enthusiastic about the idea of doing a Muppets-on-Broadway type show. I’m told that Brian seemed to figure that — if his Dad couldn’t really figure out how to successfully adapt this set of characters to the stage — why should he even bother trying?
Well, last night, we all saw what comes from trying. “Avenue Q” — the little musical that could — racked up the Big Three at Sunday’s Tonys. Winning the awards for best music & lyrics, best book and — most importantly — Best Musical for the 2003-2004 season. Which virtually guarantees that “Avenue Q” will now have a long & profitable run on the Great White Way.
Now what’s got to be particularly galling for Brian Henson is that all of the puppeteers featured in “Avenue Q” — John Tartaglia, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Rick Lyon and Jennifer Barnhart — are all Henson Company veterans. Even more embarrassing is the fact that the show’s composer & lyricist — Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx — had actually wrote a spec script for a Muppet movie (“Kermit, Prince of Denmark”) a few years back. I’m told that Brian reportedly rejected this “Hamlet” parody because he thought it was just too weird & too brainy.
Well, now Henson has to deal with the fact that someone else made his Dad’s dream come true. That it was — in fact — actually possible to produce a successful show for Broadway that featured Muppet-like puppets.
And now — to add insult to injury — Jim’s son has allegedly learned that (now that the Walt Disney Company owns the Muppet characters outright) that Disney Theatrical is supposedly actively toying with the idea of producing a new stage musical that would star the Muppets. A show that Mickey would very much like to bring to Broadway in the not-so-distant future. Toward that end, the Mouse has engaged the services of Jason Moore — the director of “Avenue Q.”
Jason’s very first assignment for Mickey is to direct the live-action TV version of Disney’s 1996 animated musical, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” That television musical — which will supposedly begin production sometime later this year — will then eventually air on ABC sometime in the late spring of 2005.
But — after production of “Hunchback” is wrapped — Moore’s supposedly going to sit down with Disney Theatrical. To discuss how exactly Miss Piggy & pals could possibly pull an “Avenue Q.” I.E. Become the next Broadway show to prominently feature puppets that becomes a great success on the Great White Way.
And you know what the really ironic part of this story is? Who’s Disney Theatrical reportedly trying to recruit to write brand new songs for this proposed Muppet Broadway musical. Lopez & Marx. The very same composer & lyricist team that Brian Henson once rejected. Because he supposedly thought that the material that Robert & Jeff turned out was “too weird & too brainy” to work with the Muppets.
Of course, given that this “Kermit, Prince of Denmark” musical that Lopez & Marx wrote was a parody of “Hamlet,” that Shakespearean tragedy that’s centered around a son who’s haunted by his father’s ghost. A prince who waits too long to take action …
Do I really have to point out how ironic this whole situation is?
Your thoughts?