I get a lot of hits by people Googling "Muppet Shakespeare", thanks to my two casting calls for MUPPET ADO ABOUT NOTHING and MUPPET KING LEAR. For those people, I now present this. (I got this thanks to the ever-amazing Shakespeare Geek, but rather than link to a link, I'll go direct.)
Strollerderby has a post including embedded video of the Shakespeare episodes of Sesame Street's MONSTERPIECE THEATER.
For the record, I've been quoting that Elmo-Hamlet bit for years.
Enjoy!
My new favorite word: "Duck."
Noun or verb, though today particularly the noun.
You see, it's my son's first real word.
Yes, Dashiell said "duck" several times this morning, while playing with a couple of his rubber disco ducks (bought at Cost Plus World Market, these things are a riot - they flash disco lights internally when played with. Eerie, but funny. Jan bought them on a lark, and he loves them).
Maybe it's because we sing two of the three "Rubber Duckie" songs from Sesame Street so often. Or maybe he connects them with bathtime, which is truly his favorite time of the day. Whatever the reason, I now adore the word "Duck."
Which means it's going into one of the novels at some point.
(Didn't think I could bring it around to the novels, did ya? Shame!)
Actually, it might be interesting for me to track when something from daily life shows up in the novels. A friend has a weird habit, it sometimes shows up. I do plan to have three close friends placed in minor roles in Books 4 & 5 (also known as "Cesco and the Englishmen" - how's that for a tantalizing hint!).
But it's remarkable how much that didn't happen in MV. There are very few references to real people - my friends, I mean - in this book, or even in the next two. I had one person in mind for the Count of San Bonifacio, but his personality changed remarkably during the writing of the story, and so B.W. is no longer my mental image of the Count.
Another, my friend Paulie, had a habit of referring to a "little blue gnome that operates the libarary in your mind." He had a whole story about that gnome and his duties, and I found it so charming and amusing, I appropriated it for the book. Then, after a couple of drafts, I took it back out. It was feeling forced, and a little too whimsical for Pietro to have come up with. Or even Poco.
"Whimsy." That's a good word.
But not as good as "duck."
Cheers,
DB
Everyone is asking about the title to Book 2. I don't have a good answer. I did, then something changed and events that were going to happen in Book 2 were moved to Book 3, which I'm working on right now (when not adapting classic crime fiction for the stage, playing with Dash, or wasting a whole day playing Medieval II Total War - damn, but that's a good game!).
The former title is actually a Romeo line from Act III scene i. It was used by Raphael Sabatini for one of his lesser known works (the man wrote a ton of novels, but only three remain in print! Sacrilige!)
But, because that is now the title of Book 3, I'm back to the drawing board on Book 2. There's a lot of falconry in the sequel, leading me to a Juliet line, "O for a falconer's voice to call this tassel gentle back again." A Falconer's Voice. I like it for the symmetry - Juliet's line for Book 2, Romeo's for Book 3. Coolio.
But it's not a compelling title. After all the bruhaha and nonsense over the title for MV (Book 1), I'm looking for something with more snap. Keeping with the Falcon imagry, I could use the Petruchio line, Sharp & Passing Empty. But that's no better. I'd avoid that book!
Then I thought about the events of the sequel, and thought that maybe The Falcon's Lure might be a better fit. That's where I'm at just now.
Tomorrow I'll probably dump the whole falconry thing and call it The Heir of Verona. Which is also accurate, if uninspired.
Grrrr. On the plus side, they've announced that The Muppet Show Season Two is coming out this fall. So, all told, I'm having a good day.
DB
I've gotten some amusing notes from friends regarding the Muppet Lear post. So let me digress even further to note that, while wonderful, the Muppets are not my ideal cast for King Lear. That honor goes to the kids from South Park.
Imagine - Cartman as Lear. "Blow, wind. Eh. No, stop it wind. No, wind, I changed my mind! Dammit, wind, stop!"
Kenny as Gloucester - I mean, we've seen his eyes get plucked out often enough.
Stan and Kyle as Edmund and Edgar. Or vice versa. Makes no difference to me.
Butters. Gee, who couldn't Butters play? Albany? Of course. Oswald? Sure, though I might award that to Tweak. Cornwall? That would be funny, but I think Timmy as Cornwall would be better. But I think the real genius move would be to place Butters as Kent. Because Butters can do anything. Which is why Jan loves him so.
Now, I won't be typing up a script for this. Because, no matter how I tried, I couldn't match these guys for sheer balls. Did you see this week's show? I laughed myself sick. Matt and Trey are geniuses.
No, I'm gonna stick to ripping off Shakespeare. South Park is out of my league.
- DB
This past week my son Dash and I enjoyed a Muppet extravaganza, playing with Kermit and Rowlf and Cookie Monster puppets mostly (he's eleven months this week). We also listened to classic Muppet tunes including the musical stylings of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.
In honor of our Muppetpalooza, I submit this to the aether: For almost ten years, I have been imagining the true Muppet Shakespeare experience. It is simply the most appropriate of all the plays. It is - MUPPET ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
The Cast:
The rest really speaks for itself. Kermit was always at his best in the early years, when he was abusing Piggy. This lets them abuse each other, and still end up together. The scenes were they are tricked into falling for each other would be priceless.
I would have to steal the opening sequence from Brannagh's film version. Can you imagine Kermit, Gonzo, and Rowlf on horseback, riding in, Rowlf with a big ciger sticking out one side of his mouth? Meanwhile, Piggy, Janice, and a dozen other muppets fling off their clothes to bathe for their arrival. Feathers and fur fly everywhere, until everyone is suddenly suited up, and we have the formal entrance, with the two groups looking at each other with big grins. Then Piggy starts in on Kermit, and we're off!
Quick note on the double casting of Antonio: Link Hogthrob is originally cast in the part, only he keeps breaking into soliloquies from HAMLET, which he naturally assumes he should be starring in. So the director has to fire him and replace him mid-play with Pepe - just in time for the great angry scene with Antonio and Leonato calling out Claudio in the street.
Obviously I've spent some time thinking about this. I've written up a good chuck of the script. I even sent a proposal in to Henson studios eight or nine years ago. Never heard back, of course, but I'm glad I put it out there. Clearly, I've put the intervening years to some use. But there's a piece of me that wants to finish the script, just for the hell of it. Maybe someday, when all this other nonsense has palled...
Anyway, this is my contribution to Muppet theatre. Next? Taming of the Swine.
DB
As a secondary honor to the past week of Muppet-mania here at the Blixt house, I'm posting a cast list I made last fall to amuse my Goodman cast-mates. So, sit back and enjoy imagining the Muppet Shakespeare Theatre as it presents - MUPPET KING LEAR!!
You have to have the right (or wrong) sense of humor for this, but try to imagine the highlights:
1 - Camilla the Chicken's seeming rejection of Waldorf, her father, for which he banishes her:
2 - Rowlf the Dog beating Beaker for insulting the king, and then being stocked (leashed) for his pains:
3 - Animal tearing out Sam the Eagle's eye, then being stopped by Kermit's nephew Robin:
4 - Janice and Miss Piggy's affairs with Gonzo, for which they murder each other;
5 - Waldorf heckling the storm ("Oh, you call that blowing?!"), then stripping naked and running around like the madman he has become;
6 - Gonzo ordering Pepe to murder Camilla (Pepe: I am not a horse, okay! If it be man's work, I'll get it done, okay!);
7 - Kermit pretending to be mad, then facing off against his brother Gonzo in a final swordfight.
Promising, don't you think? Of course the Muppet writers would have much more fun than I am here in this quickie post. So let's begin a lobby, shall we? Who wants ABC and Disney to produce a Muppet Shakespeare play?
DB
