“The Muppet Christmas Carol,” which debuted on the big screen in 1992, is as timeless as the Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale it’s based on. 

On the days following Thanksgiving, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will perform Miles Goodman's festive score while the entire family film plays on a massive screen. 

Tickets for all three of the performances are limited, but still available for Friday, Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 1 at 2:30 p.m. Get tickets here.

The film follows the original story fairly closely but within the warm and humorous Muppet world. Michael Caine plays the “hard and sharp as flint” Ebenezer Scrooge and Kermit and friends help him find redemption on Christmas Eve.

Recently, we chatted with Dr. Barbara Miller who is the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in Queens, New York. The museum is home to the permanent exhibit “The Jim Henson Exhibition” and has a traveling version that tours the country.  

Jim Henson’s family donated more than 500 artifacts to MoMI and the exhibit opened in 2018.

“This project came along and it was a dream for me,” says Miller, a lifelong Muppets fan. “I have a deep and abiding love for the characters and it has been an incredible privilege to dive as deep into this world.”

We asked Miller, who is an expert on The Muppets and identifies the blue-haired, sax playing Zoot as her favorite, what it is about the characters that both kids and adults have found endearing for decades.

“That's the million dollar question,” says Miller. “It’s a secret recipe. If you could describe it, everyone would do it.”

However, she identifies a few of the ingredients in The Muppets secret recipe. 

“People relate to the characters and know a lot about them,” says Miller. “Fans know details about Kermit as if he was a real entity.”

Henson also never stopped enhancing the characters, which made them more and more “real” over time.

“He had great integrity to the stories and characters. He was never like, ‘OK, we created this, now let’s sit back and watch the money roll in,'” says Miller. 

Miller also credits Jim Henson’s genius as a creator, but also as a leader who was able to identify true talent. Henson passed away in 1990 and “The Muppets Christmas Carol” was the first film created after his passing and the directorial debut of Henson’s son, Brian. 

“Jim had a great eye for talent and drew in fantastic writers, performers and builders,” says Miller. “And then he just let them do their thing. He brought out the best in people and generated a creative collaboration.”

The audience during the upcoming MSO performances of “The Muppet Christmas Carol” will be delightfully multi-generational. This is because Henson was never creating solely for children. He was always nodding to the adults he knew were watching, too.

“His work and his writers’ work was never geared specifically to children,” says Miller. “The humor always existed on lots of levels. They wrote to make themselves laugh and to entertain themselves while also teaching children.”

Henson saw puppetry as an art form for all ages and demographics, something that’s common in other countries, but not historically in the United States.

“He was striving for universal appeal even though puppetry here is linked almost entirely to kids’ entertainment,” says Miller.

During the interview, Miller shared fascinating factoids about the Muppets. The first Kermit was created in 1954 for a five-minute show created by Henson and his wife, Jane, for a local station in Washington DC. 

“Jim made (the first Kermit) from one of his mom’s turquoise-green coats, ping-pong balls cut in half for the eyes and a pair of jeans for the puppeteer’s arm,” says Miller. “That’s in the Smithsonian now.”

Because music was always important and prominent in Henson’s creations, partnering with the symphony is a natural fit.

“To see and hear live music with this film is a fantastic experience and very true to what was most important for Jim Henson, his collaborators and The Muppets,” says Miller. “The entire show is super fun, interesting, well executed and heartwarming – all things that everyone needs.”

Molly interviews Rudi Henirich, the MSO's Bosoon player, about all the fun holiday events on deck at the Bradley Symphony Center. Check it out:

Tickets for all three of the performances are limited, but still available for Friday, Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 1 at 2:30 p.m. Get 'em here.