The Muppets Take Orlando

Well, this past Valentines Day turned out to be one of the best I’ve had in recent memory. It wasn’t what I would imagine a typical Valentines to be as I had no date, no candy, and nothing else remotely romantic happen to me (maybe some other year). However, it did have something that made it really special: the Muppets! Specifically “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World,” a recently opened traveling exhibit of rare artwork and sketches by Jim Henson accompanied by movie props, rarely seen video, and (of course) about a dozen puppets including my favorite Muppet, Kermit the Frog! Now, I am of course a big fan of Henson and the Muppets so ever since I heard this Smithsonian exhibit was coming to Orlando I’ve wanted to see it, but I never expected the kind of good fortune that would smile on me. You see, it turned out that the museum the exhibit is visiting in Orlando was having a special promotion that allowed visitors to get in free on a handful of dates this month including February 14^th  to promote art and culture in the Orlando area or something like that. My brother and I were afraid there would be some sort of catch but amazingly there wasn’t. In what has to be the best deal in Orlando history, we got to see actual Muppets and artwork created by Jim Henson (plus a tiny but interesting exhibit about Abraham Lincoln including a couple of handwritten letters by the 16^th President himself!) for no charge at all! They even validated my parking! Can’t beat that! The only thing that would have made it better was if the allowed photography inside the exhibit but, alas, you can’t win ‘em all.

As for the Jim Henson exhibit itself, it was really neat to see the puppets up close and personal (albeit behind glass). As someone who has built a puppet or two in his time, it was really cool to see firsthand how the people who essentially created that particular style of puppetry put their puppets together. It was also interesting to see the evolution of Henson's artistic ideas from the creation of initial design sketches to storyboards to the puppets themselves to a finished film all on display in one place. However, it would be more than a little dishonest for me to say that my interest in the Muppets on display was purely from a technical or artistic perspective. After all, it’s hard not to be a little star struck when you turn a corner and there is Kermit, or Bert and Ernie, or Rowlf the Dog right in front of you after years of watching them on TV. However, after the initial shock, the experience felt (no pun intended) more like revisiting a piece of my own childhood in a whole new way than standing in the presence of a movie star. As corny as that sounds, I think that ability (in terms of puppet design, writing,  and performance) to create characters that elicits such warm, silly, and unpretentious responses was part of what set Jim Henson's creations apart in the world of pop culture in the first place. Finally, the art on display, which made up the majority of the exhibit, was really fascinating to see as well. Most of it was in the form of fairly rough sketches and doodles, but as a fellow art student who grew up doodling it was cool and even a little inspirational to see someone whose work I admire going through some of the stages that I have artistically (including, apparently, the packrat stage).

However, the day wasn’t over yet when we left the museum. It was time for a late lunch so on the way home my brother and I stopped at one of our favorite places to visit: Disney World! Downtown Disney to be exact, where we enjoyed more free parking, had  some hot sandwiches, and soaked up that Disney atmosphere (a process which included lots of photography). All in all, it was a great (if perhaps unconventional) way to spend Valentines Day.