Review: Tribute to The Muppets Master Jim Henson at Urban Stages Is Again Charming But Suffers From Inconsistent Performances

Last year during their annual Winter Rhythms Festival, Urban Stages presented a Jim Henson tribute show called The Lovers, The Dreamers, and Jim, and decided to bring it back again this season (presented last night) by "popular demand." Conceived, hosted, and authored by besotted fan, actor/singer Adam B. Shapiro, the well written, if top heavy script, takes us from the origins of Sesame Street, The Muppets, and Fraggle Rock through Henson's fantasy film work. Movie clips and stills refresh sentimental memories as a cavalcade of exceptional songs are performed. Musical Director Matthew J. Russell deftly accompanies, chorus inclusion is well arranged (although sound imbalance favors piano over singers), and the show remains a charming one. "We don't play down to kids, we just have a short audience." Cute.

Jim Henson, puppeteer, artist, cartoonist, inventor, screenwriter, actor, film director, and producer, hailed from Greenville, Mississippi where he began developing puppets in high school. Proving "you could bring felt, foam, and feathers to life," he established the longest running children's television show in history, teaching generations of kids life lessons as well as math and spelling while entertaining, and introduced the world to puppets so real, they felt like family. Sesame Street just turned 60 and currently appears in over 30 countries.

Shapiro opens with a genial theme medley followed by Joanna Russell's overwrought "When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish." (Russell is more successful later with "All By Myself," cutely performed as a proud-as-punch little girl.)

A Fraggle Rock duet by our host and Samantha Northart (smiley voice/on-target attitude) showcases some of the terrific songs to come . . . Catch a tail by the tiger/Take the horns by the bull/A bird in need is a friend indeed/So pull the eyes over the wool . . . and Pukka Pukka Pukka Pukka Squeedily Boink/Sweet melody/Pukka Pukka Pukka Pukka Squeedily Boink/Neat Harmony . . . are two samples with which you may not be as familiar as the terrific "Rubber Duckie," which appears towards the end of the show: Every day when I/Make my way to the tubby/I find a little fella who's/Cute and yellow and chubby . . . Rubber duckie, I'm awfully fond of you . . . Really, even Cole Porter would've enjoyed them.

Fozzie and Kermit's "Movin' Right Along" film clip from The Muppet Movie--"Ah, a bear in his natural habitat--a Studebaker . . . " is endearing, but should be excerpted. We're in it now, warmed and grinning. Some of the highlights:

Andrea Prestinario has my attention. Her version of "Somebody's Getting Married" (Kermit and Miss Piggy, of course) from The Muppets Take Manhattan is infectiously ebullient, something the artist manages with sincerity rather than pastiche. Performance of "U Really Got a Hold On Me" (a parody of the Smokey Robinson song) includes Shapiro wrapping an enormous red, stuffed letter U (which he made) around her. Prestinario delivers pop inflection and has fun with R-rated innuendo. She has a super voice and can act.

From Muppets Most Wanted, replete with a well-written set-up, we hear Rebecca Larkin and Russell Fischer's rendition of "I'm Number One." Larkin, whose solos are thin, here manages to be extremely funny with exaggerated Hollywood Asian/Charlie Chan accent. Leather-motorcycle-jacketed Rob Langeder, regales us with the Elvis/JohnTravolta influenced "Born To Add" (aka Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run") and, later, Kermit's iconic "Being Green" delivered, but for a single loud line, as it should be--low key, with arms at his sides.

Special Guest Stephanie D'Abruzzo both starred in the evolutionary love child of Henson's output, the adult Avenue Q, and was herself a Henson puppeteer. The actress briefly tells us about her time with the highly collaborative television company. Her interpretation of "I Don't Want To Live On the Moon," more adult than childlike, is as sweet as they come.

The beloved "Rainbow Connection" begins with Kermit on screen at the frog pond and smoothly segues to our live company. In closing we all join in "Sing" . . . Sing/Sing a song/Sing out loud/Sing out strong/Sing of good things, not bad/Sing of happy, not sad . . .

Direction is unfortunately inconsistent. Some performers go for straight pop, some Broadway, some act as kids, some adults. The material wins, however. This is a great story with great numbers, many of which were composed by the main Sesame Street songwriters Joe Raposo and Jeff Moss.

Also featuring: Stacie Perlman Langeder, Deb Ratloff, Brian Charles Rooney.

Photos by Maryann Lopinto