Chapter 14; A Lazer Show on Broadway
Excerpt from Renegade Suit, the autobiography of David Lazer (with Jay O’Brian).
Working for Jim Henson is a little like a nicer version of working for Vito Corleone—you’re never really “out” of the business. I’d “retired” in ’84, but by ’88 Jim and Bernie were pulling me back in. My time off had helped me to recover somewhat from my symptoms, and I was ready to help out. Thankfully I didn’t even need to move back to LA, as Jim and Bernie needed me in New York! I was now a “Creative Associate” and the VP of Northeast Regional Management for the Walt Disney Entertainment Company. Essentially, I was there to keep an eye on things in the US Northeast.
First on the list was to swing down to Philadelphia where I met Jim, Dick Nunis, and John Hench (who’d just inherited the Chair and Presidency of the I-Works after Carl Bongirno’s retirement) at the airport. After all the drama between Jim and Dick the last time I’d seen them together, seeing them paling around like best friends was a surreal, but welcome sight. I took them to Sesame Place, and rather than slip in the staff entrance, Jim led us right through the front gate! A park worker (and old friend of Brian’s when he worked there in 1980) named Bill Barretta recognized Jim and immediately rushed to show us around. He showed us the interactive Oscar the Grouch audio-animatronic (which Jim loved) and made enough of an impression that Jim asked me to find a place for him[1] (I took him to Jane and he became one of our most popular new Muppet Performers). Disney’s management had been kind to the Little Park that Could and Sesame Place was definitely a league above where it had been in 1980, with real rides, walkaround characters, and a full-sized replica of Sesame Street itself, named Sesame Neighborhood. But Jim, Dick, and John had even bigger plans.
Sesame Neighborhood (Image source “muppet.fandom.com”)
Sesame Place was going to be the nucleus of a grand experiment, a 30-acre Disneyland in miniature. They called it “The Philadelphia Experiment” and it would be the first Disneytown. The rides would be few and aimed mostly at younger children and their parents, but it would be a place to meet the characters and get a taste of the magic. There’d be rotating shows and attractions and audio-animatronics that changed from year to year (a sample of what the Real Disney had to offer!). There’d be an arcade for games, video and skill alike. And the admission price would be low enough for multiple visits per year by even the most financially challenged families. It hardly held a candle to the “Real Deals” in Kissimmee and Anaheim, but for parents of young children it was a chance to affordably visit something local (or near-local) that could be seen in half a day and get your younger kids home before The Crash[2].
After dark, the shows would change to things more appropriate for teens and adults, and the arcades, shops, restaurants, and games would stay open while the rides shut down. There’d be a Cyclia In Miniature for music and dancing. There’d (obviously) be a Disney Store. Finally, the park would be open in a reduced capacity in the cold winter, with indoor attractions running year-round, avoiding the three to four idle months of a typical northern theme park.
Vintage Disney Store (Image source “thewaltdisneycompany.com”)
The shops and restaurants would be a combination of Disney-owned and operated places and rental clients, making the whole arrangement as much a small mall as a theme park. Marriott would build an affordable hotel next door. The local politicians hoped that the Disneytown would be the nucleus of urban development, and so the City of Langhorne and other surrounding communities were contributing to the pot in an effort to spur economic growth. The EPA and State of Pennsylvania environmental department were brought in to assist in making sure that everything was as minimal impact as possible. We powered things as much as possible in that northern latitude by solar.
If it worked, it would be the first of many to sprout up around the world. It was hoped that the D-towns would whet the appetite for the “Real Deals” at Kissimmee and Anaheim rather that prevent people from going to them. In the end the attendance numbers would tell the story.
The next thing on my list was back in New York. First, I helped Bernie and Mel Brooks get
The Producers started Off Broadway, but Bernie had a special plan ahead. We cut a deal with the City of New York to split the costs on refurbishing the old Palace Theater on Broadway as the launching point for a new Broadway show[3]. Let me tell you, the Palace was in poor shape! But by the time we were done it was back to its original glory, only with all-modern electronics and stage sets. The show we would debut there, a big surprise gift for Jim, was
Muppetational!
Something like this, but Grander!! (Image source “rebelscum.com”)
Muppetational! was a glorious celebration of all things Muppet, from the early Sam & Friends stuff like “Inchworm”, “Mahna Mahna”, and “I’ve Grown Accustom to Your Face”, through all the psychedelic Nancy Sinatra stuff like Big Bossman, through
The Muppet Show and movies, up to modern “Creature Shop/Creatureworks” animatronics. There would even be an appearance by Waldo C. Graphic, the first all-digital Muppet, projected as a simple hologram onto a fog machine cloud! Throw in a few classic and original songs and some choreography, and you had the show that Jim had wanted to do for years, but at a level even beyond his wildest dreams at the time.
Julie’s talents with indirect rod puppetry came in really handy, as we couldn’t just have a simple Kermit Muppet on stage. The audience in the back couldn’t see him! Se we scaled up all the classic Muppets to a scale even the top deck could see clearly. Muppetational Kermit was the size of Jabba the Hutt! It took 3-4 Muppet performers to animate each of these giant Muppets. Amazingly, Julie did it all with very few animatronics or Waldos. She just has a natural eye for clever rod linkages.
Bernie asked me to be the producer, but I wanted another person on board as my co-producer: Jane Henson. Jane was happy to once again be an active part of the Muppets, helping us pour through old sketches and offering guidance on how best to build and perform Sam, Yorick and Mushmellon and the other original Muppets. Heather even helped out after school and on the weekends. It was great visiting the old Muppet Workshop again and working again with the old crew, and great to work with Julie Taymor, an old Henson Foundation grantee, who was the obvious choice for director. At Bernie’s insistence we all but blackmailed Jim into working with us on it, in particular on the choreography with Jane and Norman Maen, and we thus got him both an executive producer credit and a choreography credit with Jane and Norman. The latter job, which involved figuring out how to get the Muppets and human performers to perform together, ultimately won him, Jane and Norman a Best Choreography Tony, one of several
Muppetational! took home in 1990.
Julie Taymor, Director, and Norman Maen, Lead Choreographer for
Muppetational! (Image sources “playbill.com” & “muppet.fandom.com”)
But the best part for me was seeing Jim and Jane working together again. They make such a good team and Jane honestly deserves more recognition for all the work she did over the years to help make the Muppets happen.
[1] Bill Barretta joined the Muppets team in our timeline in much the same way according to Barretta in
Muppet Guys Talking.
[2] Every parent knows exactly what I’m talking about here. There’s a reason why Reptile World in Orlando made tons of money from exhausted parents by offering a chance to feed a mouse dyed like Mickey to a python—at least until Disney hit them with a “cease and desist” order.
[3] Michael Eisner would work the same deal in our timeline when he decided that Disney should be on Broadway in ’89. Here the same deal has happened earlier through a different route: Bernie Brillstein, who'd wanted to put Muppets on Broadway since the ‘70s.
