| Mr. Blue Sky ... tell us why
The furry, fuzzy, googley-eyed rainbow of puppets peered over the curtain as a roomful of attendants awaited the show. Then, with the opening notes of Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky" dripping into the room, the puppets sprang to life, animatedly singing along with the song.
This was the grand finale of a multi-week workshop during which kids crafted their individual puppets and practiced for the big performance. My daughter Avi participated in this workshop offered by the Montrose Regional Library, becoming immersed in the cutting and gluing and stitching of furry fabric and painting of eyeballs onto ping pong balls. It was awesome fun.
As a child of the 70s and 80s, I was raised on Sesame Street and The Muppets, worshiped at the alter of Jim Henson and tried endlessly to imitate the myriad voices of Frank Oz, who infused life and character into puppets ranging from Cookie Monster and Grover to Fozzie Bear and Yoda. In summary, I tend to get pretty excited about puppets.
For starters, puppets tend to be pretty adorable — unless they're decidedly not! I'm looking at you Skeksis! (By the way, I do a really spot-on Skeksis impersonation if you're interested) — but what I like most about puppets is they're ability to help us humans through the tough spots ... think about it: do puppets really ever inhabit the carefree fairytale orbit from which they seem to be born? No, they're always dealing with some sort of problem or another, a challenge to be overcome, a fraughtful adventure to be dared, a conflict to be resolved. I mean c'mon, the entire narrative arc of Kermit and Ms. Piggy's relationship is essentially a MasterClass on how two individuals in love, in this case a frog and a pig, can overcome the various fears and hang-ups, the concerns and questions rattling around in their noggins and just get on with the business of, well, loving each other.
If you're in the need of some guidance, or just some laughs — Wocka-wocka! — maybe you should consult some puppets. I'd start with the original "The Muppet Movie" from 1979, and then shoot straight to "The Dark Crystal" (this one would bring me to tears as a child). Or, if you wanna go deep, check out "Emmit Otter's Jugband Christmas," a 1977 television special Henson produced, which was an adaptation of "The Gift of the Magi," and centered around a family of financially distressed otters — a widow and her son — who could only afford Christmas presents for each other by sacrificing their own prized possessions and sources of their livelihood. No fairytale, but rather the grit of life through which to persevere or transcend.
Did I mention I have some thoughts on puppets. You know who else does? Amy Dickinson, head of Teen Services at the Montrose Regional Library. She unpacked her thoughts last week in a column, which you can read here.
Have a Good One,
Jeremy Morrison, managing editor
jeremym@montrosepress.com
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