Another TMS idea...

[Jennifer]

...this time with a REAL person.

Most of you probably know Christopher Lee from LOTR and Star Wars, and some of you may know his Hammer horror films as Dracula. However, from what I have heard, he is an EXCELLENT singer! (And very much the opera aficionado.)

I'm on one of my Sondheim kicks as you can tell from my idea for Batman visiting TMS. Here, then, is another song from A Little Night Music (my second favorite to Send In The Clowns, actually) "Night Waltz (The Sun Won't Set)" as performed by Christopher Lee and a few other Anything Muppets, with a special cameo from The Count.

Kermit: Ladies and gentlemen, you may know that our guest star tonight has made a name for himself as Count Dracula. You may not have known, though, that he has a superb singing voice. Now, tonight's closing number is from Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, and it refers to the summers of the midnight sun in Sweden, where the sun remains in the sky even at night. There are a few creatures of the night which might have a problem with this. And so, may I present our guest star, MR. CHRISTOPHER LEE!!! YAAAAAYYYY!!!

(Music starts. Curtain rises on the interior of a crypt. A cracked door admits a few rays of sunlight. Christopher, in Dracula garb, and a few vampires are pacing impatiently around the crypt. We see one of the vampires is Count Von Count.)

Christopher:
The sun sits low,
Diffusing its usual glow...

Count:
Five o' clock! (Lightning flash.)

Another Vampire:
Twilight...

Christopher:
Vespers sound, and it's...

Count:
Six o' clock! (Lightning flash.)

A Bat:
Twilight...

Christopher:
All around,
But the sun sits low,
As low as it's going to go...

Count:
Eight o'clock! (Lightning flash.)

Female Vampire:
Twilight...

Christopher:
Slowly crawling, towards...

Count:
NINE O'CLOCK! (Lightning flash.)

Another Vampire:
Twilight...

Christopher:
Crickets calling, it's...

Count:
TEN O'CLOCK!!! (Lightning flash.)

Another Vampire:
Twilight...

A Bat:
How enthralling...

All:
The vespers ring,
The nightingale's waiting to sing...

The Bat:
The rest of us wait on a string... (He is. Literally.)

Christopher (with annoyance):
Perpetual sunset
Is rather an unsett-
Ling thing.

(During the instrumental break, eveyone pairs up--even the bat--and waltzes gracefully around the crypt. One of the other vampires, however, gets a little too close to the sun's rays and--POOF!--he's charred black and smoking, looking perplexed.)

Christopher:
The sun won't set,
It's useless to hope or to fret...
It's dark as it's going to get...
The hands on the clock turn
But don't sing a nocturne
Just yet!!!

(A few more graceful turns around the crypt.)

Count: Twelve! TWELVE O'CLOCK AND THE SUN IS STILL UP!!! HA HA HAAAA!!! (A very large lightning flash knocks the crypt door off its hinges, sending more sunlight in and charring the other Muppet vampires.)
...Ooops.

(Christopher glares at the Count as only Christopher Lee can glare as the last note sounds.)


So what'd'ya think? If I could get away with it, I'd also have him and Piggy sing "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd!

 

[The Count]

That's 2, 2 great Muppet Show ideas! The interaction between Batman and Joker was classic, and a really great laugh riot. However, if you're going to have bats inside a Muppet crypt you could have the following amongst the flock:
The Brown Bat, a woodland Muppet animal from a previous show.
Batty, Grischa, Mischa, Sacha, and Tatiana, the Count's bats flapping inside their master's lair. Keep 'em coming. What about a faceoff between Wonder Woman and Wonder Piggy, and the Rainbow Connection as sung by all the JLA members and Muppet superheroes as your grand finale.

 

[Jennifer]

Another bit for Christopher...

Oh, and I thought of another little bit that could be used...but it'd probably go over the heads of anyone not in the know.

The subject of impressions comes up, and Christopher amuses Fozzie by doing a dead-on impression of Yosemite Sam and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters.

Fozzie: Wow, Mr. Lee...that was really terrific! Have you done those impressions before?

Christopher (with a sad smile): Oh, all the time. Mainly for an old friend. I like to think he's getting a laugh out of them still.


That's a reference to the friendship between Christopher and his onscreen foe Peter Cushing. They both loved Warner Brothers characters and Christopher liked to make his friend laugh by impersonating them. Christopher still misses his old chum.

Sort of along the lines of George Burns' "you remind me of someone I used to work with" in his episode. (How many kids got THAT?!)

 

[Princeton]

Most of you probably know Christopher Lee from LOTR and Star Wars

Who was he in Star Wars?

 

[The Count]

Unless I'm mis-staken... Christopher Lee played the character of Count Doku in the recent Star Wars prequel movies.
Hope this helps and have a good day.