Muppet Classic Theater

Muppet Classic Theater was released direct-to-video by Jim Henson Video in 1994.

From the Muppet Theater, Gonzo and Rizzo present six fairy tales, as performed by the main Muppet characters. The video features two acts with three fairy tales each. Each story also features one song.

Stories

Three Little Pigs

Cast: Miss Piggy as Sandy Pig, with Andy and Randy Pig, Papa Pig, and The Big Bad Wolf.

Story: Papa Pig tells his three children, Andy, Randy, and Sandy, that it's time for them all to live on their own. Papa tells Andy and Randy that they are strong smart boys who can take care of themselves, but they need to look after their sister Sandy. While the two dumb brothers build flimsy homes of straw and sticks, Sandy constructs a state-of-the-art brick house. The Big Bad Wolf comes and blows down Andy and Randy's houses. The siblings turn to Sandy for shelter, and she only lets them stay if they promise to show her some respect.

Song: "Show Me Some Respect"

King Midas

Cast: Kermit the Frog as King Midas, Miss Piggy as Queen Midas, Gonzo as the satyr, and various Whatnots and animals.

Story: King Midas finds a satyr sleeping on the royal roses, which is punishable by death. However, the satyr offers to grant King Midas one wish in exchange for his life. King Midas intends to wish for peace in the world, but Queen Midas overhears and interrupts, wanting money instead. The satyr mentions several options, and the queen chooses "the golden touch," which will cause anything Midas touches to turn into gold. Though the queen and the peasants rejoice in the new power and the kingdom's wealth, Midas wearies of it, and accidentally turns himself into a gold statue. In order to restore her spouse, the queen must renounce her interest in gold.

Song: "The Midas Touch"

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Cast: Gonzo as the shepherd and Kermit as the mayor, with The Big Bad Wolf, the Sheep, and others.

Story: A shepherd boy has a habit of overreacting to things (especially rash assumptions from his paranoid sheep) and causing the town to panic. One day, a wolf comes to eat the sheep. The wolf tells the shepherd that he's been watching him, and figures that he'd been cying wolf so much that nobody in town will believe him. As a test, the wolf gives the boy 24 hours to find help, but the townspeople are skeptical. Eventually, the sheep get help from their cousin Norman, a big sheep who crushes the wolf, and the shepherd receives a medal for "not crying wolf except when an actual wolf was present".

Song: "Who Do You Think You're Fooling?"

Rumpelstiltskin

Cast: Miss Piggy as the Miller's daugter, Kermit the Frog as the king, Gonzo as Rumpelstiltskin, and Papa Pig as the Miller, with Loyal Royal Advisor and others.

Story: A lonely king orders his loyal royal advisor to find him a wife, someone special, and promises him his own castle if he can succeed. Many hopeful fathers bring their daughters, but the Miller lies to the advisor that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The advisor locks the Miller's daughter in a room to demonstrate her talent, or else be sent to the dungeon. A weird man suddenly appears and offers to turn the straw into gold for a price. He succeeds, but the advisor orders a second test, and again the weird man is the heroine's only hope. He assists, but demands the daughter's first born child.

The Miller's daughter and the king are wed and have a child, and as expected, the weird man comes to get the child. When the new queen begs him not to take the infant, the man agrees to let her keep the kid if she can guess his name. The Miller's daughter confesses the trick, and learns that the King didn't marry her because she could spin straw into gold, but for her own charms. The entire kingdom attempts to guess the name. Eventually, the man reveals that he went to summer camp, and the Miller's daughter knows that good mothers sew their kids' names into their clothing before sending off to camp. The label reveals his name as "Rumpelstiltskin."

Song: "Gotta Get That Name"

The Emperor's New Clothes

Cast: Rizzo the Rat as the tailor, Fozzie Bear as Emperor Fozzie, Robin the Frog as the boy, Montague and Yolanda Rat, and others.

Story: Rizzo, Montague, and Yolanda are hucksters selling hair tonic in the kingdom of Fozzalia. They are arrested and taken to Emperor Fozzie, an eccentric whose every whim and action sets the fashion for his subjects. When Rizzo meets Emperor Fozzie, he notes that Fozzie's wardrobe is shabby. Claiming to be the best tailor in all the land, he is hired to make the emperor's new clothes. However, when Emperor Fozzie cannot see any thread, Rizzo says that the clothes is made of special material that cannot be seen by the dull and uneducated, so Emperor Fozzie and his court pretend that they can see the material.

Emperor Fozzie decides to have a ceremony to show off his new clothing right away, and invites the rats to be his guests of honor. However, when Emperor Fozzie shows off his clothing to the townspeople, the brightest person in the kingdom, Robin, sees the emperor as he is: naked, save for a pair of boxer shorts. The citizenry think that since the Emperor isn't wearing clothing, that public nudity must be the latest fad. The Emperor tells his people that they should stop doing things just because he does them, and that they should start thinking for themselves.

Song: "Nothing's Too Good for You"

The Elves and the Shoemaker

Cast: Kermit the Frog as the shoemaker, Robin as his nephew, the Elvises as the Elves, and the banker.

Story: The Shoemaker makes shoes so ugly that nobody will buy them, and the banker demands that he and his nephew Robin pay half of what they owe him the next day. Robin wishes for a miracle, and three elves (who resemble Elvis Presley) come and make blue suede shoes that people will buy. Business improves, and the Shoemaker soon figures out how to make shoes that are no longer ugly.

Song: a "Blue Suede Shoes" parody

Credits

Muppet Performers: Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Steve Whitmire, Frank Oz, Bill Barretta, Julianne Buescher, Brian Henson, Bruce Lanoil, Allan Trautman, Cheryl Blaylock, Tim Blaney, Kevin Carlson, Terri Hardin, Drew Massey, James Murray, Joe Selph, and Michelan Sisti.

Director: David Grossman

Writers: Bill Prady ("King Midas" and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf") and Jim Lewis ("The Three Little Pigs", "Rumpelstilskin", "The Emperor's New Clothes", and The Elves and the Shoemaker"). ^[1]

Notes

This production marked the first appearance of Andy and Randy Pig and the Elvises, who later appeared on Muppets Tonight.

This video was sold as "Muppet Fairytales" in Europe. The episodes were available separately on the British compilation DVDs The Very Best of the Muppet Show: Volume 2 and The Very Best of the Muppet Show: Volume 3.

Goofs

In the "The Elves and the Shoemaker" tale, Rizzo walks onstage to speak to Kermit and Robin about a gift to give the Elvises. As Steve Whitmire was already performing Kermit, he could not puppeteer for Rizzo at the same time. Thus, Rizzo's voice is recognizably that of Dave Goelz.

Other releases

Sources

↑ Lewis, Jim. Post on the Muppet Central forum.

[1] Lewis, Jim. Post on the Muppet Central forum.

[1]

Muppet Wiki