Easter Bunny Muppet Special

The gruesome Easter Bunny has finally been released. Instead of eating chocolate Easter eggs, it feasts on cute little bunnies. How grotesque! Wishing you all a bunny-free Easter. Enjoy.

Beaker dies on the net

After month's of secret rehearsals, Beaker has finally persuade Disney Studios to let him post his new song 'Dust in the Wind' onto You Tube. As expected, the song has finally killed his blossoming singing career. Check it out!

New Bohemian Muppet Clip

The Muppets have come a long way since the show's inception in 1976. Could Jim Henson have imagined that a new Muppet viral 'Bohemian Rhapsody' would have had twelve thousand hits in two days? Even though we expect the violence order to be taken out against Animal in this poetic rendition of Queen, it never happens and the audience are not even disappointed. There are even rumours today that The Muppets will be appearing on the US TV show 'Dancing with The Stars' next Tuesday, so keep tuned!
The Muppets Studio channel can be found on You Tube here!

Joan Ganz Cooney's World in the 21st Century

How can emerging media help children learn? This question was asked forty years ago by a great innovator in the United States, Joan Ganz Cooney. She was the woman who started Children's Television Workshop which produced Sesame Street together with Jim Henson in 1968. That question is as relevant today as we try to get inside the minds of young children and how they are looking at our world and figure out the engagement points in the new digital media to educate them in this 21st century. Cooney's legacy was to improve children's lives a little more urgently and figure how we can all contribute to this goal together. You can watch a short documentary of the Joan Ganz Cooney Centre here!

You can watch a full interview in nine parts with Cooney in New York, recorded in 1998, here! Many famous people have appeared on Sesame Street in recent years. Michele Obama even recently promoted a healthy lifestyle on Sesame Street. You can watch her here!

PUPPETRY COURSES and EVENTS for 2009

It's hard to believe that the holiday season has come and gone and here we are into a new year. We are now planning new puppetry courses, as well as launching a brand new puppetry broadcast company this year, so stay tuned.

Despite all the troubles in the world, I remain extremely optimistic for 2009. I believe this will be a year for great opportunities and the year we shall put puppetry firmly on the webcast market!

But firstly, our first Puppetry for Film and Television Course for 2009, will begin in Sydney on 25 February and run until 22 April.

Gary Friedman Productions presents a unique opportunity to learn the art of puppetry for the camera in Australia. The course is suitable for film-makers, performers, puppeteers, teachers and others interested in learning about puppetry for the screen. The course will include design and construction of puppets, manipulation for the camera, developing scenarios for performance, voice characterisation, and the directing of short performances.

Participants will develop, perform and direct their short scenarios for a course DVD.

Venue: The Wesley Institute for the Arts, 5 Mary Street, Drummoyne, in Sydney

Dates: Eight consecutive Wednesday evenings from 25 February to 22 April 2009 (Excluding Wed 8 April) Time: 6pm to 9pm

Cost: *$749 (including materials)
*Early-bird: $50 discount for all bookings before 31 January 2009

To check out a short film of the course, click here!
For bookings or more information, contact me here!

Elmo interviewed on Rove Live in Australia

While on tour here in Jerusalem, I discovered an online video from an interview I caught while in Australia last year, but still it's certainly worth checking out, if you haven't seen it. Rove Live is a popular talk TV show down under and here Sesame Street's Elmo and his manipulator, Kevin Clash are being interviewed in Melbourne. Take a look at the Elmo interview here and the Kevin Clash interview here!