Muppets and Paul Williams songs go together like peanut butter and chocolate, which makes Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas a tasty, tuneful holiday treat perfect for the Fine Arts Building’s intimate and beautifully renovated Studebaker Theater.
Director/choreographer Christopher Gattelli (who also co-wrote the book with lead producer Timothy AllenMcDonald) orchestrates a melodic mélange of animal-costumed actors and furry friends from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in this brisk 75-minute musical based on Henson’s 1977 TV special of the same name.
For the uninitiated, Ma and Emmet Otter, played with good cheer, strong voice and heartstring-tugging emotional range by Broadway veterans Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone and Andy Mientus, set their paws on winning the first annual Frogtown Hollow talent show to buy special presents for each other. Their rivals for the prize, sponsored by nightclub owner Doc Bullfrog (puppeteer Jordan Brownlee, who also doubles as the laidback narrator), include a renegade rock band, music shop owner Mrs. Mink (Sharriese Hamilton, in vampy belter mode) and pianist Old Lady Possum (a quite funny Anney Ozar, who also voices naughty young Nutella Squirrel).
The musical features several fine showcase ballads, including Ma and Emmet’s duet on “When the River Meets the Sea” (and another, “Alice Keep Dreaming,” performed by composer Williams himself via recorded vocal). But the show is at its most crowd-pleasing when it kicks into gonzo (as compared to Gonzo) high gear as the fur and feathers start flying. High-octane highlights include “Trust That Branch,” in which Nutella and three boisterous squirrel siblings school Emmet in the art of taking a big leap, and a malodorous instrumental number performed by Stinky Skunk (Matthew Furtado) with accompaniment from some butterflies who should have fluttered upwind.
As the acerbic Mayor Fox, Kevin Covert emcees the climactic variety show in much the same way that Kermit used to present the most outrageous Muppet acts on The Muppet Show–with well-deserved put-downs and a scrunched-up expression or two. Will Ma or Emmet win the big $50 prize? And, failing that, will they alchemically transform their so-so contest numbers into the aural equivalent of a peanut-butter cup, landing them a headlining gig at Doc Bullfrog’s joint?
To find out, you’ll have to wait until it’s time to play the music and it’s time to light the lights and it’s time to get things started with these Otter show delights.
Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas runs through December 31 at the Studebaker Theater.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Michael Brosilow
