Happy 25th anniversary to the Labyrinth!
Last night I was lucky enough to see a live screening of the Labyrinth on it's anniversary, but I was also able to see some cast members! Last night was a special treat that I am grateful I was able to make...but jusssst barely! For some reason I've had this Labyrinth curse in recent times. I've tried to see the film at numerous screenings and was always out of luck when I showed up to the ticket counter...even when I was early. I was pretty sure up until a day ago that it was simply not meant to be. Curse is over, I made it!
I showed up hours early this time so there was no room for error, and was first in line! I quickly made friends with the people lining up behind me, which eventually wrapped down the Castro. Eventually people started to form a second line, which I wasn't a fan of. I showed up early and I was afraid I'd have to get mean. I only had to get a little mean :) maybe everyone could see the urgency in my eyes? Once the doors opened I was brought into a gorgeous old theater. The night started with a Labyrinth costume contest and the winners were two girls dressed as the Knockers!
They opened up the night with Adam Savage (who I've met before, cool Bay Area local) who hosted the Q and A with Brian Henson, Dave Goelz and Karen Prell. First Adam asked a set of questions and than opened it up to the audience.
(Left to right: Adam Savage, Brian Henson, Dave Goelz and Karen Prell)
At about his second question for Brian, Shari (Hoggle) was recognized in the audience by the cast and invited on stage. That made it even better! They showed behind the scenes clips and other interesting things. The audience was very responsive and there was a lot of laughter. Brian didn't stay for too long before he had to leave for a performance of "Stuffed and Unstrung." The best parts where definitely what the Muppeteers had to say. Dave Goelz and Karen Prell have been Muppeteers in a big number of Muppet/Henson movies. In Labyrinth, Brian did the voice of Hoggle while Shari was in the costume. Karen did the part of the blue worm and the junk lady. Dave was the puppeteer for Sir Didymus, the Fireys, the Knockers, and the four guards (that's the dead end behind you!)
Although I was practically violently raising my hand to ask the question, it felt as though the guy completely avoided me. But the good news was...someone asked my question! "What was it like to work with David Bowie?" Shari answered the question because "Jareth picked on Hoggle the most." She said he was very nice and polite, and was the first one to say "Is she ok in there? Maybe she needs a break out of the mask?"
Other cool anecdotes from the Muppeteers:
- Karen Prell talked about flirting with other Muppeteers on the set. In order to "flirt" in an Muppet set performers would dance around and wiggle to get the attention of the person they liked. (Check out the Magic Dance scene!)
- At first Dave Goelz thought the character of Sarah was a total brat. He said when he saw the movie later, he understood it was a coming of age story and no longer saw the character that way.
- Dave Goelz was asked about Dark Crystal which he also performed in. He talked about the opening scene when he was playing a Skeksis and he fell off his platform. He said as he was falling he thought "I don't know how Jim thinks were going to get this done." LMAO
- The performers did elaborate on puppeteering. "Lots of sore backs and hurting arms, but you work through it."
- When they showed this clip Brian said "I look like I'm 12" after seeing this.
I also found out that baby Toby was Brian Froud's child. Pretty cool!
The movie went on very much liked I had expected it to. Think of a Rocky Horror Picture Show and it wasn't too different from that. Lots of happy cheering and yelling and screaming. Every time they showed Bowie's "package" on screen the audience would erupt with excited screaming. I definitely made me think of RHPS and made me wonder why Labyrinth doesn't have it's own "theater list." If you're not sure what I mean, click here for an explanation. I was really really happy to finally be there for the movie and around all these people. I didn't take a lot of pictures because it was in a theater, and quite frankly I suck at remembering. I live in the moment!
One last Labyrinth related thing! Seeing the movie on the big screen made it much easier to see all the Bowie faces on screen! At first I thought I was seeing things but I looked it up: Henson put in a bunch of subliminal/hidden Bowie faces and other things in scenes of the movie! Some more obvious than others...
A new Muppet movie will be coming out this Christmas! Yaaaaay!
Just spreading the good word!
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