Interview: Celebrate Jim Henson with Tyler Tafolla at The Green Room 42

Your favorite sensational, “Muppetational” performers and puppeteers are back to play the music and light the lights once again! On Friday March 21 (World Puppetry Day) at 9:30 pm, join Musical Theatre composer and performer Tyler Tafolla and the gang at the Green Room 42 in Midtown Manhattan as they celebrate the music, laughs and work of Jim Henson.

In this one-night-only concert, you'll hear those classic songs you know & love from The Muppets, Sesame Street, Labyrinth and many more! It will be a night of music, laughter, hysteria and of course, puppets! The show will be an evening you won't forget, featuring performances from Jordan Brownlee, Emma Iannuzzi, and Jon Steiger.

 We spoke with Tyler about the upcoming show, puppetry, and more.

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How did you get into puppetry?

I have been a fan of The Muppets since childhood and far into adulthood. Growing up as an energetic child with a lot of imagination, an inability to stand still for very long, and a desire to make people laugh, I felt right at home when watching The Muppets. I grew up during a time where children’s television was having its own sort of renaissance, and it was hard not to see puppetry in some way shape or form on television during that time. It was a steady diet of Mr. Rogers, Lamb Chop and Sesame Street as well as newer shows at that time like Bear & the Big Blue House, The Puzzle Place, Zabomafoo, Between the Lions and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. That sort of upbringing definitely formed my idea of comedy, community and sense of play. The Muppets were always front and center to all of that. There was truly nothing like them for me. 

What inspired you to do this show celebrating Jim Henson's muppets?

I think the creations of Jim Henson have transcended generations with their universal humor, relatable characters and timeless messages. No matter what age, many of us have experienced or have been impacted by The Muppets in some way, whether they may realize it or not. Whether it be learning our numbers and letters on Sesame Street, to learning to follow our dreams watching The Muppet Movie, to learning how to get along with those who are different than us on Fraggle Rock, for many of us of a certain age, we learned some of our greatest life lessons from these characters made of fabric and felt. With the amount of content that in consumed many people’s time in our current state of the world and with the amount of entertainment that is created these days, I wanted to create a night that celebrated the characters and stories that are wholesome, universal and uplifting lest we not forget how to dream big and reach for the stars. 

What have been some of the highlights of your puppetry career so far?

Because of my passion and pursuit of puppetry, I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with such incredible people from The Jim Henson Company to Swazzle to The Pacific Pals to Sesame Workshop. I take great pride in being able to share rooms with such incredible people at the top of their field. I think that’s one of my biggest lessons I’ve learned throughout my career: let it be known loudly what your passions are. By doing so, it becomes a beacon for other like-minded people to come out of the woodwork and share common interests with you. In fact, that is how this new show at The Green Room 42 came to be. Simply from my producer Julia and [me] sharing our passion for Jim Henson and wanting to bring this show to New York! 

What has the process of putting this show together been like so far?

We had performed this show previously twice in San Diego, CA. I have been working closely with my producer Julia Schemmer to help bring this show to a New York audience and it has been a very creatively fulfilling process. Julia and I have been discussing bringing this show to New York for about a year now and it is a very exciting feeling to finally reach this moment. Since we’re bringing this show from California to the East Coast, it has been months of back-and-forth phone calls, emails and zoom meetings leading up to putting up the show in person! We wanted to encapsulate the humor, chaos and utter joy you feel when watching The Muppets into an evening of live entertainment. You’ll hear those classic songs you know and love from Sesame Street to The Muppet Movie to Fraggle Rock and beyond performed by some of the best puppeteers and performers working in the industry today. 

What aspect of it are you most excited about?

The show was a small passion project with humble beginnings. It was very much like Mickey and Judy putting on a show in the barn for fun. The show came from a place of pure passion for these characters and songs we know and love. The fact that it has grown into something grand that we get to share with a New York audience is simply a dream come true. And the fact that we get to collaborate with these incredible New York-based musicians and puppeteers to bring this vision to life is an incredible feat. I’ve been pinching myself lately saying to myself, “How’d we get here?!” Similarly to when Kermit finally gets to Hollywood in the first Muppet Movie and marvels at how far they’ve all come, it’s been a time of reflection and realizing that dreams really can come true if you continue to tend to them. I guess to answer your question, I’m most excited about the fact that we are able to make some dreams a reality with this show. 

Who do you think should come see this show?

If you are a fan of Jim Henson, The Muppets, Sesame Street or even just comedy and puppetry in general, this is the show for you. If you want to be surrounded by joy, colorful characters, laughter and fun, this is the show for you. And if you dream about singing and dancing and making people happy just like the Muppets, we hope this show will continue to encourage you to keep chasing your own Rainbow Connection. We hope this show reminds you that during these tough, unprecedented and even scary times we are living in, that some light and laughter can still exist and persist. That good, optimism, love and hope can still persist in these times. That the world can still be filled with music and fun. 

Aside from this Jim Henson tribute, what have you been working on lately?

I am mainly a musical theatre composer and playwright. My recent musical I’ve written called “Dead Moose” had a concert reading this last January with plans for a full production in San Diego, CA underway! My previous work also includes “Seasons: A New Musical Song-Cycle (Album streaming courtesy of Broadway Records), a 1930’s comedy called “Scott Robbins and the Traveling Show,” and a fully-danced musical called “DanceLand.” I’ve also been lucky enough to write for The Pacific Pals and Legoland California Resort.  You can find more of my work at tylertafolla.com and on my Insta @tatafolla and TikTok @tyleratafolla

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

In an interview once, Jim Henson said this; “At some point in my life, I decided, rightly or wrongly, that there are many situations in this life that I can’t do much about. So, what I should do is concentrate on the situations that my energy can affect.” I’ve been feeling very connected to this quote at this very pivotal time in the world we live in today. In these times we live in, there is so much we can do when it comes to staying aware of what is going on in the world—getting out there and voting, speaking out about what’s right, being there for our fellow humans. There is also a whole heck of a lot that I cannot control, as much as I want to. So, I began asking myself lately, “ “What am I capable of? Just me,” I am capable of reading love. I am capable of sharing joy with people. I am capable of making people laugh, even if it’s just for the moment, even if it’s the first laugh they’ve had in a long time. I am capable of providing that to people who may desperately need that right now. Though it may seem small in comparison to other things, I’ve found that even the smallest acts of positive human interaction or community joy have made all the difference in my life. So, I hope during our performance, we can provide a safe space for people to laugh, to smile, and to sing along, just like Jim Henson did for so many generations of people. 

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You can find more of Tyler’s work at tylertafolla.com, on Instagram @tatafolla and TikTok @tyleratafolla

Tickets to the March 21st concert are available on the Green Room 42’s website.

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