Dual Nature

This moment was a little creepy. While I love the Muppets and puppets in general, I prefer not to see their handlers at the same time.

If the performer is really good at becoming visible. yet invisible as the puppet's handler, as in the Broadway musical, Avenue Q, then I'm fine. But, when the handler's presence or actions draw my attention away from the puppet and focuses on them instead, I find it unsettling.

As you can tell from this photograph, the puppet handler's appearance and similarity to his puppet is very strange. In person and in this photograph, my eye is drawn to him and not his friendlier looking puppet. During the parade of costumes before the High Heel Race, I wish that the puppet spoke more than the handler. I'm confident that Jim Henson would have agreed with me.