A few thousand Muppet fans are going to get the experience of their lives this weekend. The Hollywood Bowl has a capacity of 17,500 seats. And for three performances over the course of the weekend, math tells me that equals the possibility of 52,500 tickets sold. Even accounting for those of us who plan to see the show more than once, that’s still a lot of happy Muppet geeks. And even more who can’t make it to Hollywood, and will ultimately be suffering from the most severe cases of FOMO.
And y’know what? I get it. In 2001, I had the opportunity to fly to LA for MuppetFest, where thousands of fans gathered for two days of panels and special guests, as well as a live Muppet Show. Unfortunately, stupid 2001 Joe passed up the opportunity because he was broke, shy, had never been to LA, and didn’t know where he’d stay or how he’d get around. Today, I look back and kick myself for not seizing the opportunity and worrying about the consequences later.
We’re lucky enough to have “The Muppet Show Live” available to watch on YouTube for those of us who couldn’t be there, but other live shows aren’t so lucky. There aren’t any recordings of the 2012 live show “Jim Henson’s Musical World“, featuring the Muppets, Sesame Street cast, and Fraggles at Carnegie Hall. If you missed the Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas musical, you’re out of luck. Did you know that The Muppet Show went on tour in the early ’80s… twice??? It doesn’t matter, we’ll never get to see it.
So, this begs the question: If only a fraction of Muppet fans get to attend a live, one-time-only Muppet event, is it worth doing at all?
Naturally, the answer to this is yes. Thanks for joining us, everyone! This article is over!
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
Just kidding. I have so many more words.
In recent years, the Muppets have starred in their own feature film (which millions of people saw) and their own TV series (which millions of people watched), both of which were considered “failures” by Disney. If the Muppets are going to prove that they can still be a success, maybe they need to go after an avenue with lower stakes. Sure, 52,500 tickets sold is far from small potatoes, but a stage show wouldn’t have to compete for airtime on a network TV station, or for movie ticket sales against whatever garbage Dreamworks happens to have out at the moment.
A live show could also mean a lot to any Disney executives who find themselves at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend. The Muppets brand always seems to be on the brink of doing some really fun things (i.e. theme park attractions, YouTube videos), but without the corporate support to really make them grand and to reach a larger audience. From our perspective, they just don’t have faith that people care about the Muppets. But put them in a theater with 17,500 screaming fans, and they just might get it. The fans want more than Twitter feeds and Funko Pops; we want quality Muppet entertainment, and the Hollywood Bowl audience is just a fraction of the fanbase in the rest of the world.
For all the positive reactions the Hollywood Bowl show will bring, the negative ones are just as important. I’m talking about the reactions from those who won’t be able to be there in person. Are you upset? Are you angry? Are you depressed? Good. Let Disney know that there’s a big world out there, and we all want Muppets on our screens, in our movie theaters, on our computers, on our smartphones, and in our lives. We don’t just want the Muppets to take over the Hollwood Bowl, we want them to take over the theaters in Cleveland, San Antonio, Minneapolis, Portland, Salt Lake City, Calgary, and Melbourne too. We can make our voices loud and strong and shout from the mountain (or Twitter, I guess): “We want Muppets.”
The Hollywood Bowl show could also be a symptom of ramping the Muppets up again. The failure in movie theaters and the TV sitcom industry would normally kill a franchise, but the Muppets are tenacious. If their time putting on a hokey variety show in a crumbling theater in the late 1970s has taught them anything, it’s that the show (and to extend the cliche, the franchise) must go on. Since the cancellation of The Muppets, the Electric Mayhem played a live show at Outside Lands, Sam the Eagle starred in a new live experience at Disney World, Uncle Deadly hosted a (mostly) weekly YouTube series, the Swedish Chef appeared on Masterchef Junior, and all the Muppets live on through their respective Twitter accounts. Sure, it’s all mostly small stuff, but if you connect the dots through the Hollywood Bowl show, the Muppets’ presence is in an upward swing. We can only assume that their next venture will be even larger, eventually bringing them back into the mass public’s eye.
The great thing about this is that although the Muppets are promoting the heck out of this show, nobody’s treating it like it’s an endgame. It’s a conduit to the next Big Thing. And what’s that Big Thing going to be? Well, it may not be another feature film (yet), but it’s bound to be a step up. A little larger or for a bigger audience or more experimental or who knows. But the Hollywood Bowl show isn’t a Looney Tunes-esque cliff that will either end in a nosedive or running in mid-air. It’s a bridge, a stepping stone, an up escalator, and several other metaphors that should give Muppet fans everywhere hope.
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
