Muppeteer Fran Brill's official retirement

[D'Snowth]

Fran is still considered one of the originals, even if she hadn't been with the Muppets or even SST from the very beginning, but she's been a part of the Muppet family since before what's considered the "Second Generation" of performers (Steve, Marty, Kevin, David, et al.) Like Richard, he's considered one of the originals, and he likewise didn't join until the same time as Fran; Dave's also considered an original and he didn't join till the early-to-mid 70s.

But anyway, as I said before, whatever route SW decides to take in recasting Fran's characters, I honestly believe this would be a great opportunity to really get Stephanie back into the game; physically, she's a stellar performer, and vocally, she's got an incredibly wide range. Fran's voice has a unique sardonic quality to it that I think Stephanie can tap into rather well, and again, it'd give us a variety of female characters again. Don't get me wrong, I love Leslie, she's a great performer, but she's been performing practically every female Muppet for the last few years now, and after a while, all of her voices start to sound the same.

 

[fozzieisfunny]

Ahem... "AROUND" as long as Carol. The key word is around, meaning almost as much but not quite.

Yeesh.. I thought that " AROUND" meant going in a sort of slight turn, as once told me.

 

[Muppet Master]

Fran is still considered one of the originals, even if she hadn't been with the Muppets or even SST from the very beginning, but she's been a part of the Muppet family since before what's considered the "Second Generation" of performers (Steve, Marty, Kevin, David, et al.) Like Richard, he's considered one of the originals, and he likewise didn't join until the same time as Fran; Dave's also considered an original and he didn't join till the early-to-mid 70s.

But anyway, as I said before, whatever route SW decides to take in recasting Fran's characters, I honestly believe this would be a great opportunity to really get Stephanie back into the game; physically, she's a stellar performer, and vocally, she's got an incredibly wide range. Fran's voice has a unique sardonic quality to it that I think Stephanie can tap into rather well, and again, it'd give us a variety of female characters again. Don't get me wrong, I love Leslie, she's a great performer, but she's been performing practically every female Muppet for the last few years now, and after a while, all of her voices start to sound the same.

Is Steve really a second generation performer, I mean he performed for half of TMS, and in all the muppet movies, I think he is in between first and second, because his only original characters are Rizzo, and to a lesser extent Lips, Kevin is also more in between considering he started performing before Jim's death, I consider the ones who did not perform with the muppets when Jim was around more of the second group.

 

[D'Snowth]

Believe it or not, "Second Generation" refers to performers that Jim started hiring from the late 70s through the 80s, when his projects were growing in numbers and he was in need of even more performers outside his already-established core group of himself, Frank, Jerry, Richard, and Dave; this includes Steve, Marty, Kevin, David, and others.

It makes sense when you think about it. 20-25 years is usually what's considered a generation, Jim started theMuppets in 1955, but it really wasn't until the mid-to-late 70s that the Muppets really started to explode in pop culture, requiring Jim to devote time to more projects in need of more performers. In between 1955 and the late 70s, the more notable performers Jim hired were Jane, Jerry Juhl (initially before writing became his forte), Frank, Jerry Nelson, Caroll, Fran, Richard, and Dave (who was originally exclusively a designer/builder).

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Wow, that is pretty sad considering when Steve first joined he wanted to perform on SS, but did he really have any recurring characters besides Ernie, and Kermit in the 90's, and I also wonder why Steve would be busy with Disney since MMW is over. Maybe he is working on a secret new muppet tv show, that would make his departure seem a little less sad.

That would be neat, but I notice Eric is still available to perform Bert and Grover on SS, so if this news were true a new Muppet project probably wouldn't feature Fozzie, Piggy or Animal or if it did than they would need to be recast. I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

I wasn't going to say anything, but since Drtooth did, I agree, I think people are taking the news of Fran's retirement a little too hard; like Drtooth said, these things happen, but we've yet to hit a false note with both ends of the Muppet spectrum. Yes, it took time to get used to Steve as Kermit and Ernie since Jim's passing; yes it took time to get used to Eric as Bert, Grover, Fozzie, Piggy, Animal, and now Sam and David as Cookie Monster since Frank's retirement; yes it's taking time to get used to David as Scooter and Janice since they've been revived; yes it's taking time to get used to Bill as Rowlf and Dr. Teeth since they've been revived as well; yes it's taking time to get used to Matt as Floyd, Uncle Deadly, and Count since Jerry's passing; yes it's taking to get used to Ryan as Elmo since Kevin's resignation... but keep in mind, the performers take things like this into consideration, and do their best to try replacements or understudies to take on the characters to make the transitions as easy and seamless as possible. It's just gotten ridiculous lately. Steve was under a lot of mental and emotional pressure when it came time to take on Kermit and make it his character since Kermit was so much a part of Jim, but he's done a very good job at keeping Kermit and Ernie alive, that I think even Jim himself would be proud of what Steve's done with them. But more importantly, we gave Steve a chance. Yes, we were sad to lose Jim, and no Steve isn't Jim, but we still gave Steve a chance. We were also accepting of Eric taking on Frank's characters and now Matt taking on Jerry's characters, but anymore it seems anytime a performer leaves us for one reason or another, much of the forum was in an uproar over it. Artie? Everybody was like, "Dood! Dat ain't Steve! Who is this guy? He sux! Bring back Steve!" When Kevin resigned, people immediately ignored the news that Kevin's resignation was permanent and were all, "Kevin will come back soon, I hear rumors that he's going to, so yay, Elmo will be back to normal!" (There was one member in particular who kept doing this, but I won't name names.)

Yes, it's disorienting when a character changes performers, but when you have characters who survive for this long, you have to expect. it The characters may last forever, but the performers don't. That said, yes, losing Fran is significant, since she was one of the last of the original performers, but like Drtooth said, it's not the end of the world. If she chooses to retire, she has a right to do so: she's been performering for decades, and she's at an age now where she can retire if she wants to, and maybe she'd like to take it easy now that's able to, and just enjoy life while she can. We shouldn't dwell on her no longer being a part of the Muppet family, we should respcet her decision and think fondly on all the joy her charactefd have broguth us overthe lyhears.

Well, said Snowth, you really summed up everything in a nutshell and that's presumably the most likely reason for using an alternate Kermit on America's Got Talent a few years back. Puppeteers can't be around forever or available all the time. Sometimes it's best to accept the things. I know we were saddened by the absence of characters like Rowlf and Scooter after Henson's and Hunt's respective deaths. It's best to have Muppets continue no matter who's performing them rather than have the characters be retired altogether. : Rather than have the characters be retired!

 

[wiley207]

It is pretty sad. No more Zoe or Prairie Dawn...
I also remember Fran Brill narrating this as well (she also voiced Maria, renamed as "Dolores")...

 

[Collgoff]

I wonder if Keving Clash heard any of this!?

 

[JonnyBMuppetMan]

That's the point I was making. If Ernie has a new performer and Steve isn't listed in the credits, then it's fair to assume that Steve is no longer performing on the show.

Like I said on another thread, I'd suspect that it may just be for this season (an isolated thing like John T. performing Ernie for one season of PWMS), and considering that nothing official has been said on the level of Fran's retirement, I wouldn't jump the gun and say Steve's retired too.

Anyway, I was rather shocked to first hear about Fran's retirement through Tumblr. At the same time, I'm kind of happy for her coming to the decision to bow out. It's bittersweet to say the least, and obviously, her distinctive vocal talent will be missed.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Ahem... "AROUND" as long as Carol. The key word is around, meaning almost as much but not quite.

I gotcha. Sort of like how in one interview Jim Cummings said he's been voicing Winnie-the-Pooh since 1987 and has voiced Tigger for about the same amount of time when in reality, Paul Winchell voiced Tigger in the first two seasons of "New Adventures" except for one episode, so it's still a legitimate estimate. Sorry to get off topic here, but I just thought I'd illustrate that point.

Like I said on another thread, I'd suspect that it may just be for this season (an isolated thing like John T. performing Ernie for one season of PWMS), and considering that nothing official has been said on the level of Fran's retirement, I wouldn't jump the gun and say Steve's retired too.

Well, that's possible, but if that were true, I don't think they would have removed his name from the credits. But you never know. We'll just wait and see what happens next season.