On Saturday, May 5, the Center for Puppetry Arts will host its second-ever Puppets for Puppetry benefit dinner and show at the Jim Henson Company lot in Hollywood, California. You may recall that the previous benefit honored Dave Goelz, and this year’s honoree is a man who certainly deserves to be honored: It’s the great Caroll Spinney, who of course is best known to millions of Sesame Street fans as the performer of Shivers the Penguin and Granny Fanny Nesselrode. His other characters include Bruno, Bennett Snerf, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.
The event will be hosted by Chris Hardwick, with special guests Jack McBrayer, Bobby Moynihan, and musical guest Jason Mraz. But who cares about those people? Here are the really exciting parts of the announcement: “Favorite characters from the series and special surprises will also be a part of the unforgettable evening,” and there will be appearances by Bill Barretta, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Brian Henson, Eric Jacobson, and Matt Vogel. That’s a good lineup!
The ($250-$7,500!) tickets for this event went quicker than Big Bird on his unicycle — they’re currently sold out. But the event website at www.puppetsforpuppetry.com says this: “If you wish to join a waiting list, please email PuppetsforPuppetry@henson.com. Should any tickets become available, we will reach out on a first come, first served basis.” That website also has an online auction where you can bid on some cool stuff, including a quilt made by the Henson workshop and some prints of original Caroll Spinney art.
Keep an eye on this website for more info as we get it!
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by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com
