Kickstart your New Year's Eve celebration with a group of characters who are guaranteed to show you a good time: the Muppets. As part of its Winter Classic Movie Series and for the viewing pleasure of Jim Henson-loving locals, Tampa Theatre presents a restored print of The Muppet Movie. The classic 1979 puppet-filled musical chronicles the "somewhat fictionalized account" (according to Kermit the Frog) of how the Muppets first got together and made it big. The film opens in the swamp with an innocent, banjo-playing Kermit, who's approached by a talent agent and told he should pursue a career in Hollywood. So the optimistic frog sets off on his trusty bicycle, making new friends along the way (Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggie, Gonzo, Rowlf and others) while being aggressively pursued by a french-fried frog legs restaurant franchise owner who wants Kermit to be his new mascot. Riddled with cameos by stars like Bob Hope, Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor and Orson Welles, The Muppet Movie is the first, and arguably the best, of the Muppet films. Sun., Dec. 31, 3 p.m., 711 Franklin St., downtown Tampa, $7.50, 813-274-8982, tampatheatre.org.
This article appears in Dec 27, 2006 – Jan 2, 2007.