The lights were lit and the music played in the Muppet Theatre once more this year. But before the curtain opened on Kermit the Frog in an episode of television for the first time in 10 years, the show had to be put together — by the humans behind the characters.
Simultaneously a nod to the classic “Muppet Show,” which ran from 1976 to 1981, and something entirely new to this era of the beloved characters, “The Muppet Show” special starring Sabrina Carpenter notched six Emmy nominations, including production design (variety special), character voice-over performance for Matt Vogel as Kermit the Frog and writing for a variety special.
The Muppets have bowed in various formats over the years (films, TV specials and even the World Cup Final halftime show this summer). Putting on a Muppet show is always an elaborate production involving angles, runways, monitors and sets that make the audience forget that these are puppets. “It’s this big magic trick that we’re doing,” Vogel says.
That’s where production designer Denise Pizzini steps in. Her first foray into building for the Muppets was a decade ago, when she notched an Emmy nomination for “The Muppets” series. She’s familiar with the insider tricks of building in the Muppet Theatre: how to set up boxes and risers to even out the height of performers and humans, the 36-inch height standard for walkways for guest stars like Carpenter above Muppet performers and their monitors hidden on the ground.
Around this infrastructure, Pizzini and her team reconstructed the original Muppet Theatre, from the iconic arches to the filigree to the safety curtain with the door Kermit pops out of in the opening sequence. “I wanted to get that exactly like it should be, like the original show, because that creates a feeling,” she says.
And it paid off. For original Muppet fans, Vogel hopes “it feels, it smells, it looks, it sounds, it acts and it just feels like the original show.” The Muppets as a brand are something uniquely familiar to generations. Part of being a Muppet performer, Vogel says, is paying homage to the soul of the original character and performer (in his case, Muppet creator Jim Henson himself). Part of it is imbuing a little personal flair to create an authentic representation of a modern Kermit.
The familiarity of the characters is something writer Albertina Rizzo kept in mind, too. “You can’t veer from their core being,” she says. Kermit wouldn’t say YOLO; internet vocabulary doesn’t fit with the Muppets. “They exist in a different time and space,” she adds.
Rizzo took inspiration from “Saturday Night Live” and variety shows of the 1970s. There’s a sensibility to Muppet comedy that speaks to her background in late-night television, where the revolving door of guests necessitates different styles. A Miss Piggy joke wouldn’t work for Kermit, and vice versa.
One thing universal across the Muppets is a certain kind of goofy, physical humor. Muppets never get hurt, Rizzo says, but they certainly can have doors fall on them (as Kermit does in the special) or zoom in and out of frame on out-of-control roller skates (like Gonzo).
“Muppets are best when in motion,” Rizzo says. That’s in part due to the delight of a well-done physical gag, but also because she finds the fantasy can lapse if the audience is allowed to look too closely at a Muppet for too long. She kept the jokes tight and the physical bits quick.
The collaboration required to make that rapid comedy work brought Rizzo into conversation with Pizzini and puppet captain Bill Barretta. Barretta has been working with the Muppets since 1991. Pizzini credits him as the person she would drag over to set to troubleshoot the physical necessities of the script.
The production design team did countless tests to ensure different sets worked properly. Pizzini says she watched the original opening sequence so many times that she had the song stuck in her head. After seeing the setup for a stunt where Gonzo roller skates through fire and swinging blades, she recalls performer Dave Goelz hugging her, ecstatic about the complicated set they pulled off.
“I’ve always thought that these Muppet performers were just pure artists,” Pizzini says. “There’s a purity about what they do, and they’re so passionate and excited, and they really embrace these characters, and that just spills over into the whole crew.”
Goelz is the only Muppet performer still in his original role. For him, it is a true return to the original Muppet Theatre. For Vogel, who has been the full-time Kermit performer since 2017, the special was something he had “dreamed about doing for a long time.”
Henson created the Muppets in the 1950s, and he performed as Kermit until his death in 1990. He never wanted the Muppets to be a kids show like “Sesame Street,” although many Muppet performers throughout the years have also worked on “Sesame Street” (Henson and Vogel included).
Rizzo says it was helpful to have several people familiar with an 11:30 p.m. audience in the writers’ room. “We wanted to have jokes where an adult would hear it and get it, and a kid would hear it and laugh at it, but not know why they’re laughing,” she says. With a guest star like Carpenter, whose cheeky lyrics are key to her pop diva brand, the writers were able to embrace what Rizzo calls the “inherent sweet corniness” of the Muppets.
The core magic of the Muppets is fiercely protected. Pizzini remembers forgetting Scooter was a puppet during her first Muppet collaboration in 2016. “I love that the performers and Muppet Studios really guard the brand and take good care of them and are very loyal to the original Muppets,” she says.
At the same time, each new iteration of the Muppet Show is a chance to introduce a new generation to the magic of the Muppets. “You’re coming in and you’re discovering these engaging characters that are really funny, that are musical, that are magical, that draw you in that same way,” Vogel says. For him, part of the beauty of the Muppets is that everyone can see a bit of themselves in the characters.
Vogel grew up with the original Muppet Show. He created his first puppets in elementary school out of his dad’s old T-shirts and put on shows in his neighborhood. But even then, he never thought he would be a puppeteer. “Let alone go like, ‘I’ll be Big Bird one day’ or ‘I’ll be Kermit one day,’” he says. “I never would have had those thoughts growing up. Even as an adult, I never had those thoughts really until they happened.”
The next Muppet Show might be one of those dreams that you don’t believe can happen until it does. Disney has not greenlit a full show, though many Muppet fans are hopeful that the special can act as a kind of pilot episode. But for the performers who have worked together for years, even decades, returning to the Muppet Theatre even once was worth it. “When we all got together for that first scene,” Vogel says, “it felt like coming home.”
