He’s got magic to do.
Photo: Tri-Star Pictures
When a frog closes a door, he opens a window for a 12-week theatrical run. For the first time outside of the fictional events of the 1984 classic movie musical Muppets Take Manhattan, the real, live, felt-and-blood Muppets are coming to Broadway. There are so many possibilities for what a live Muppet Broadway show could look like: a Muppet Show–style musical revue! A timely staging of Muppet Christmas Carol for the holidays! An all-Muppet production of Titus Andronicus! A … “special guest” second-billing for an America’s Got Talent magician?
The Muppets will mark their historic Broadway debut in Rob Lake Magic With Special Guests the Muppets, a limited-engagement magic show. Rob Lake is bringing his “death-defying and mind-blowing illusions” to Broadway, he announced in a video on August 20. Enter Kermit, who says, “There is nothing like live theater in New York City” and also promises not to tell Miss Piggy that she isn’t the headliner.
Magician Rob Lake refers to himself as “the guy who made Adele magically disappear.” He was the creative consultant and “illusion designer” (cool title) for Adele’s Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace, and he has also designed illusions and tricks for Broadway shows like Aladdin and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. As for his Muppet bona fides, he designed illusions for Sesame Street Live!.
As for the Muppets, this will be their first new project since their animatronics got brutally ripped from the floorboards at Disney World’s Muppet*Vision 3D. Rob Lake Magic With Special Guests the Muppets will begin previews at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 28 and run until January 18, 2026. Even if the Muppets don’t get to sing and dance, it’ll be worth it to go just to see how Lake pulls off sawing a Muppet in half when they don’t have legs. Down the middle?
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