Rob Lake Is Making Holiday Magic with the Help of the Muppets

A magic man + The Muppets = what audiences will find this holiday season at the Broadhurst Theatre. Rob Lake has already dazzled millions on TV and onstage worldwide, but this fall, he's taking his show to Broadway. And he simply cannot do it alone...

Joining Rob for show-stopping moments on stage is none other than Kermit the Frog, who will be joined by some of his friends from The Muppets to help bring their own wacky humor and magic to the illusions.

Rob checked in with BroadwayWorld to tell us all about what audiences can expect!

So you're the man who's finally bringing The Muppets to Broadway. What an honor that must be!

It is and that's a very heavy statement. There's a lot of gravity with that because of how beloved... that's not even a big enough word... how ingrained they are to so many people. 

There's a history of magic being on Broadway. What is your relationship with Broadway and how excited are you to be in New York this holiday season?

So for me, Broadway has always been my dream. I never focused on Las Vegas like other magic shows to do. I was a theater kid long before I got into magic. Even as a kid, The Muppets Take Manhattan was my favorite film and I watched on repeat. That taught me what success is, what show business is, what a goal is. I think that probably just taught me that Broadway is such an important benchmark. 

So, you know, at a young age, I got into magic, which was a relief because I had also realized around the same time I can't sing, which is kind of, you know, important for Broadway. [Laughs] So everything I do in magic is highly theatrical. Even before we know we were bringing the show here fully, a friend of mine described my show as a Disney Broadway musical-sized magic show. For me, I don't want to trick the audience- it's not about gags and stunts and tricks. It's about taking the audience on a very theatrical journey into what magic means for me. 

I know that The Muppets are not the centerpiece of this show, nor are they involved in your past shows. How would you describe how they will be involved?

Right, they're not an entire show. They are in a segment of the show. I don't want to give away too many spoilers, but you know, we were very aware that we don't want to oversell their involvement. We don't want anyone to think they're coming in to see The Muppet Show. They're coming in to see my show with some really special magical moments that The Muppets will be part of. 

You've been working with Bethany [Pettigrew] and Kevin [Zak] on kind of formulating the show and that kind of stuff. What has that collaboration been like? 

They're both great. They're both so talented, and I'm honored to have them involved in doing the show. We've been touring my show for many, many years all over the world in 60 countries. We knew that for doing this special engagement this holiday season we needed to elevate the show. This is the most important show. This is the biggest show. This is the pinnacle of every day of my life's work coming together. So I wanted to have people who I'm a big fan of their work, who I trust, and who I've seen how they really just elevate and shape and put a show together. I asked them to come and help me make this the best it could be. 

What do you think is going to most surprise audiences walking out of this show?

I want people to have a really fun and great time with their friends, with their families, with whoever they come with. Even the most skeptical members of the audience, who come in ready to try to catch something or figure something out, a few minutes into the show, there's just enough glow of the stage lights where I can see their faces, where I can see they just relax. And even for a brief moment, they allow that sense of wonder and that joy and that inspirational feeling where anything is possible. That is the goal!

And audiences need that right now!

Now more than ever, we need magic. I'm not saying just escapism- I think we are so numb to experiencing things. We watch other people experiencing things on our phones. Watching the news makes us not want to experience anything at all. So I think being in a show where you have no choice but to experience magic and wonder with your own senses, where the impossible is possible right before your eyes, just for a moment, I think that's the inspiration and the relief that we really need right now. 

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