Mad About Muppets on Broadway (1984)
From Mad About Muppets with Mad Molly Moolah Netsite, August 20th, 2002
Hi again, it’s Molly, I’m Mad for Muppets, and you are too or why would you be here? And today I’m going to talk about the third Muppets Movie (and my personal fav thanks to the Muppet Babies and the Muppet Marriage…squeee!!!),
Muppets on Broadway! MoB came out at a tough time for Disney. They were in the middle of a massive corporate battle with the fate of, like, everything in the balance, which I talked about in another post (link below) and everyone reading this obviously knows what happened there (eek!) so I won’t talk about that now.
Instead, let’s talk about
Muppets on Broadway!
The film follows the Muppets immediately after the events of
A Muppet Mystery!, now without a job since their Hollywood gig fell through with the arrest of their former studio head Bobby Caracas in the prior movie. They are largely considered has-beens by Hollywood by this point, so they sing “Well, What Now?” Then they get lured to New York with the promise of a Broadway Musical by producer Abner Plotz-D’Vice played by Dabney Coleman, and thus they set out across the US in the Electric Mayhem’s bus singing “Broadway Dreams” along the way. But Plotz-D’Vice turns out to be the con artist Meyer “Red” Haring, and thus the Muppets suddenly find themselves stuck in New York City, broke, and struggling to get a show made. After some hijinks at Sardi’s, where Kermit’s attempts to scam producer “Laser” Dave Dunlop (played by Eric Idle) into thinking he’s a big-name director fall through, the disappointed Muppets go their separate ways.
(Image source “onthesetofnewyork.com”)
So, Kermit, still struggling to get a show greenlit out of a sense of duty to his fellow Muppets, starts working a series of progressively more demeaning jobs while struggling on the side (without luck) to get the show going. This manifests at one point in a restaurant dishwashing gig where the whole kitchen is run by the Swedish Chef, naturally, along with Rizzo and the rats (“our specialty is ratatouille!”), who sing “Let’s Cook Up some Magic” as they skate across the griddle on butter pats and other crazy Muppet effects.
(Image source “70srichard.wordpress.com”)
Kermit finally takes a cubicle job where he is actually quite successful and well-respected. Soon he’s a suit-wearing creative executive at Inne-Decann Marketing on Madison Avenue, making bank, but various events conspire in ludicrously serendipitous ways (as they always do) to remind him of his Broadway dreams and thus Kermit doth sing “Dreams as Fleeting as Rainbows”.
(Image source “theroarbots.com”)
Meanwhile, the other Muppets go on to find success themselves. Scooter gets a job as a bellhop at the Waldorf Astoria, remaining chipper despite the harassment of guests Statler and Waldorf. Fozzie constantly fails at standup gigs, heckled by Statler and Waldorf of course, only to get a job on Coney Island in a dunk tank…where Statler and Waldorf have bought $200 in balls, leading the boss (Eddie Murphy) to exclaim “he’s tripled income overnight!” Gonzo is doing surreal performance art in Times Square only to be discovered by Andy Warhol and become a hit in Greenwich Village (Statler and Waldorf are there too, providing snark). The Electric Mayhem are opening for Van Halen (Statler and Waldorf are in attendance, saying “Does this rock?” “You’d need a head full of rocks to enjoy it!”).
Best of all, Piggy auditions for a musical by singing a cover of Leonard Cohen's “Bird on a Wire”[1], where she gets a standing ovation from Cohen himself (the other judges, Statler and Waldorf, of course, are less appreciative). Naturally, Cohen falls for her and soon sweeps her off her feet in a romantic montage using all of his deep-voiced Cohen charm, but though she swoons, she soon realizes that she misses Kermit. This manifests in my second favorite scene: a dream sequence where the Muppets are all babies, her singing “Only Wanna’ Be with You” to Baby Kermie
who is sooo adorable!!
(Image source “muppet.fandom.com”)
So it appears that the Muppets will disband and go their separate ways, but after a soul-searching crossover musical number “Apart and Yet Together” sung by each of the separate Muppets in split-screen, each of them decides that their Broadway dreams are bigger than their immediate job needs, but all still feel trapped in golden handcuffs.
And Statler and Waldorf, riding a horse-drawn carriage through Central park that night, comment on what a great vacation they’re having so far.
Finally, due to a conspicuously serendipitous set of circumstances commended upon by Kermit, all of the Muppets arrive at the same time at Inne-Decann for various promotional shoots and Kermit convinces all of the Muppets’ new star cameo bosses to all fund the Muppet’s new Broadway show once the Muppets amaze them all by performing “Together Again”. All of the big-name cameos thus agree to fund the production and the movie transitions to a “show within a show” performance of “Broadway Dreams”, with the Muppets performing a reprise of the song.
The show is a success and, in my
totally fav scene, Kermit and Piggy celebrate by
getting married in an elaborate ceremony! Leonard Cohen sheds a manly tear and Gonzo catches the bouquet, causing Camila to bat her eyes, as the movie ends[2].
(Image source “themarysue.com”)
Ye gods, I love this movie! Can you tell?
So, this film did well, but not spectacular, but it’s remembered well. It spawned the popular Muppet Babies Muppet series and cartoon and even a Disney live Muppet show turned travelling show, even though it’s non-canon and an imagine sequence, but whatever. And then the marriage scene, which is
still a running gag between Kermit and Piggy where she says it was real and he says it was Hollywood. I say it happened and they’re married and I challenge you to tell me otherwise.
And yea,
Muppets on Broadway is not everyone’s fav, but I love it. But I love everything Muppets. I think I have a problem. Perhaps I should seek help?
(Image source “muppet.fandom.com”)
NO WAY, BUB!!!
[1] To
@Kalvan, I
really wanted to make this song “First we Take Manhattan” per your request, but was written in 1986, 2 years after this movie debuts. I decided to at least honor the request through a Leonard Cohen cameo.
[2] This synopsis brought to you at the insistence of
@Garrett_Cartoonist.