The Muppets Take Manhattan- Puppet Psychics

I'm looking forward to the new muppets movie more than any other this year. Jim Henson's creations have unmatched comedic timing and deliver deadpan lines with the skill of Bob Newhart. So to get ready, let's have a look back to The Muppets Take Manhattan.

I love musicals for one simple reason. I love the idea that at any point in time if someone plays the right chord on the piano, we will all turn into a hive-minded, psychic singing and dancing mob. Musicals are essentially zombie films with less flesh eating and more kick-turn heals. Think about it. Every song starts with one guy humming and then some one else joins in and soon there's a swarm of hundreds all thinking and acting the same way. And if we can all improvise the same lyrics and choreography with no prior training or rehearsal, can world peace be that far off? All we need to do is get Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the same room, start singing a line about how their problems are intractable, and three and a half minutes later the problem is solved.

The final sequence of the movie is interesting in this regard because it takes place in a musical within the musical. Seconds before they go on for the opening night of a musical that they have been rehearsing for months, Kermit introduces dozens of additional cast members which know nothing about the show. This effectively renders all of their previous work moot and yet everyone hits their marks and knows all their lines.

You might be thinking that characters in a musical are copying one another, but in this scene, the muppets prove that the psychic musical connection has a range of hundreds of miles.

Despite being physically separated, the muppets are able to stay in perfect time, construct a rhyme scheme, and compose a common theme. They also apparently have the ability to astroproject. So, let's make the world a better place through the use of catchy show tunes.

Other notes: The wedding scene is takes place on stage during the musical within the musical, but the church has all four walls which means the Broadway audience has payed hundreds of dollars each for a view of the back of a set piece.

Miss Piggy replaces the actor-priest with an actual priest implying that Kermit is unaware that they are really getting married. While this would not be a legally binding ceremony without a signed marriage license, it is extremely creepy. Pair this with her history of stalking and abuse and Kermit is destined to appear in a Lifetime movie. Kermit, get a restraining order, this will not end well.