The Muppets were as much of a part of my upbringing as was ‘Golden Age’ hip hop and comic books. Jim Henson’s genius should be celebrated. New disciples are steadily coming out of the woodwork. Last years, ‘The Muppets’ was a triumph of nostalgia for our felt friends that we grew up with as well as a heartfelt welcome to new initiates to the Muppet mythos. Actor/screenwriter/puppeteer Jason Segel shares the Henson DNA. But before this movie was pitched, Segel had written and starred in a film titled, ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’. It was in this film that his character wrote a ‘Dracula’ musical performed by puppets. Talk about Vampires being done right, the Van Helsing line in ‘Dracula’s Lament’ is dope. As well as the mantra, ‘Die. Die. Die…I can’t. HA!

Salt Lake City’s own, Meat And Potato Theatre, premiered ‘Aliens, the puppet musical’ last week. Over the weekend, Stealth bot and myself decided to take in the show.

The Salt Lake Tribune had written this as a synopsis:

This story — Ellen Ripley’s hero’s journey to slay slimy space creatures and fulfill maternal instincts protecting an orphaned girl — is powerful enough to overpower audience objections to mixing it all up with a full cast of puppets, a few water guns and a romping soundtrack of eight original songs. That said, while the sheer novelty of the enterprise may be enough to draw an audience through curiosity alone, he wants the production to speak for itself by the final curtain.

The performance lasted a little over two hours with a ten minute intermission. The plot, based on James Cameron’s ‘Aliens’, runs amok through countless sci-fi geek references, catchy songs and of course Puppets. Puppets that the cast and crew hand made themselves. M&P doesn’t limit their Colonial Marine roster to just that of 1986 film. Riddick, Lando, Snake Plissken and others join rank. Ripley (played by Rebecca Marcotte) is the only ‘human’ aboard the Sulaco and you know the production has hit its crescendo when the Alien Queen inspires her minions with the use of her impressive vocal techniques. A true space opera. There were lightsabers, water guns, familiar lines (Game over, man!) and PG-13 language. Entertaining to say the least.

We need more of this. These sublime fiascos. Glorified comedies of cotton and polyester. Bring on the all-puppet version of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. Full scale movies. Good indie works. Youtube versions. Hell, even a flip book would be nice. This is a medium, untapped, with limitless potential and possibilities. Alien invasions, a gotta kill them all Zombie apocalypse, time travel whodunits, superhero epics, etc. Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey told through fabric, textiles and show tunes. Who wouldn’t pay to see these versions of Dexter or Game Of Thrones?

‘Aliens, the puppet musical’ runs until June 10th at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in downtown Salt Lake City.

-Dagobot