It’s easy to look forward to an event like this; a screening of “The Muppets”, accompanied by it’s Oscar winning song writer, Bret Mackenzie, and the Muppet star of the film, Walter. It was billed as a Muppets Sing-Along. In actuality, it was much more. The event was part of the New York International Children’s Film Festival, which runs March 7th through the 30th.
A screening of the “Muppets Most Wanted” followed the sing-along. In preparation for a long day, my group started with a hearty meal at the most Disney-appropriate eatery in the area, Earl of Sandwich. It’s still cold here in NYC, so the Holiday Sandwich was, as always, the star of the show.
We headed over the the Directors Guild Theater, and got into a nicely organized line. Peter Linz, Walter’s puppeteer, arrived with his family, and Bret Mackenzie followed along within a few minutes. It’s NYC, so no one shouted out to them, although they were 5 feet away from a queue full of adoring fans. The doors to the theater opened, and it was time to take our seats!As we entered the theater, each seat had a green cellophane bag of goodies; a party hat, a maraca, a slide whistle, a toothbrush, a mustache, and a glow stick. At this point, I’ll remind the readers that this is a children’s film festival, and the children were there…and now armed and ready! I work with children, so the 436 piece maraca and slide whistle band wasn’t too much for me to bear! In fairness, there are 436 seats, so the band of child-musicians was likely closer to 175?!
Eric Beckman, co-Director of the NYICFF, greeted the audience with a brief speech, thanking the festival’s partners, supporters, and employees, before throwing some festival t-shirts into the audience. Then, he introduced Bret Mackenzie, followed by Peter Linz and Walter.
Bret took his seat at the keyboard, set up house-right of the movie screen. Peter Linz walked out with Walter on his right hand, waving and greeting the crowd. As they got to the keyboard, Walter comically shoved Peter under the table, so the audience was left with Walter and Bret at the keyboard. The duo first addressed the goodie bags, and firmly asked, over a chorus of maracas and slide whistles, that the parental guardians hold on to the bags until Bret instructed the audience on which prop to take out.
Next came the cue cards. The audience practiced as Bret held up cards that said “aww”, “boo”, “yay”, “10 MILLION DOLLARS!”, and “clap”. Bret and Walter had fun with the audience, combining unlikely cue cards, such as “boo” and “yay”. Bret played some scales, to help the audience warm up their vocal chords. He encouraged everyone to sing along, but if we didn’t know the words, we could Swedish Chef them! In fact, they had added the words to the songs onto the film, so no one got the chance to practice their Swedish Chef impersonations this time. Once Bret and Walter thought we were ready, it was time to start the show!
Bret had everyone laughing immediately, holding up the “boo” cue card at the Disney castle opening, then quickly saying he was kidding. This would be a good time to say that Bret and Walter provide commentary through much of the film; they engage in delightful banter amongst themselves, snuggle up during sad scenes, and make each other laugh. If you’re like me, and you love watching Muppets and humans interact, Bret and Walter were a perfect pair.From here I’ll break down highlights, mostly focused around the songs, of course:
- Walter shows the audience that he stills wears his Kermit watch that he receives as a gift in the opening montage of the film. He tells us that they “let him keep it” and he wears it every day!
- Bret announced the first prop for the opener, “Life’s a Happy Song”; the toothbrush! Walter disappears for a moment, to get his teeth, and comes back up wearing the same choppers he had used in the film. The audience brushes along with Walter and Gary, then, at Bret’s suggestion, uses the toothbrushes as microphones for the remainder of the song.
- During the scene when Gary, Mary, and Walter are looking for Kermit’s house, and they pass the “Maps to the Stars” sign on the street, and come up with a great idea – chili dogs! – Bret reaches under his keyboard and takes out a chili dog. Walter scolds him, as there truly is no eating allowed in the DGA Theater.
- Walter announces that he will also be playing “Faint-Along” with his character, and play-faints every time he faints on-screen.
- Walter and Bret do their best – and they’re both very good – Kermit voices, as they sing along to “Pictures in My Head.”
- The maracas come out for the first time during the Muppet round-up montage. For the remainder of the film, Bret seems to like using them during the rock songs. I am amused each time, because Bret, a musician, has an idyllic vision of “appropriately” using the maracas as an accompaniment. In a theater full of children, there’s not much rhythm, but Bret does his best to guide the audience, then implores that the maracas be returned to the safety of the parent’s hands.
- Fake mustaches make their appearance when the Muppet gang heads to France to get Miss Piggy.
- Party hats are donned for “Me Party”.
- When “Man or Muppet” comes up, Bret and Walter banter over who should sing which part, and decide that Bret will, in fact, be the man, and Walter, the Muppet. Here’s a rare chance to see and hear the Oscar award winner perform his own song, alongside Walter. Much of the audience is caught up in the moment…it’s certainly the highlight for me. At the song’s conclusion, Walter “casually” mentions the Oscar, and the crowd goes wild!
- The glow sticks are perfectly appointed to “Rainbow Connection”, used in lieu of lighters…wait, I guess it’s in lieu of cell phones now?! It was a great moment, you could feel the love for that song fill the room. You may recall that the song gets cut in half, for a scene backstage. Bret expresses his displeasure with this editorial decision by spelling out a “bad word”. The grown ups are laughing hysterically.
- The final prop, the slide whistle, is used for…you guessed it, Walter’s whistling finale!
As the house lights came up, Bret Mackenzie, Walter, and Peter Linz walked offstage, thanking and waving goodbye to a roaring crowd of Muppet fans, young and old. I thought this event was excellent. They put more effort into it than I expected, yet Bret and Walter were unscripted and relaxed. Bravo!