Muppits Die Hard @ The Wardrobe Theatre
Welcome to the party pal!
After the success of Se7en Dwarfs at The Wardrobe Theatre last year, the anti pantomime returns to The Wardrobe Theatre for a pop at the greatest Christmas story never told: Muppits Die Hard!
The show is as ridiculous as it sounds and full of your favourite characters. Fozzy bear as a battle scarred NYPD cop, a yuppie coke snorting Gonzo and bucket loads of sexual tension between Miss Piggy and Alaaaaan Riiickmaaan (Alan Rickman)...
Well dressed uber-terrorist Hans Gruber is brought to life by Harry Humbertstone in his human form - complete with confused Germanic accent and impeccable facial hair. Our weirdly eyeless American muppet hero John McClane is perfectly voiced by Andrew Kingston, who injects a suitable amount of classic one liners into proceedings.
The puppets look great and the cast have got the voices nailed. The interior of Nakatomi plaza is recreated with the help of what can only be described as an 'manual' elevator and amazingly even the scene in which McClane crawls through a ventilation shaft is recreated. Try and work that one out!
Yippie-Ki-Yay!
Part of the charm of the Wardrobe is how everything squeezes into such a miniscule space, with muppets flying in all directions, machine gun fire and even live pyrotechnics. The puppetry is split between larger hand puppets and small stuffed toys with everything taking place in a space a similar size to a Punch and Judy show! The whole thing reminded me of Team America, beautifully crude, tongue in cheek and very very funny.
As always, there is an unbelievable amount of creativity and attention to detail that makes the anti-pantomime such a heroic spectacle.
““Nice suit. John Phillips, London. I have two myself. Rumour has it Arafat buys his there...””
It was a good thing that I watched Die Hard a few days before, as much of the original script features. If you do have a ticket, make sure you have a watch for the next run of shows as there are some great touches that you otherwise may miss…
Mark and Jeremy from Peep Show even make a surprise appearance as trigger happy FBI henchmen, Johnson and Johnson (“JOHNSONS HERE!”), with Jez wanting to get the job done so he can go back to the flat and have a nice Rogan Josh. Completely bemusing to audience members without intimate Peep Show knowledge, but of course I bloody loved it*.
*”Simple Lampoon” is taken from a quote from episode one of Peep Show.
If you have a ticket for this years anti-pantomime you are in for a treat. Watching Alan Rickman fall from a skyscraper in the last iconic scene is worth the visit alone!
Verdict: Muppits Die Hard - the anti-pantomime is back with a vengeance
The 2014 Anti-Pantomime 'Muppits Die Hard' is awarded an Andy Star:
SimpleLampoonAndyStar
muppits die hard
