The Muppets kicked off their three-night live residency at the Hollywood Bowl last night, playing a number of their most beloved musical hits for an audience of loudly cheering fans. Unsurprisingly, the set list included a rendition of âRainbow Connection,â Kermit The Frogâs most iconic tune (and presumably a pretty intimidating gig for performer Matt Vogel, who took over the part just a few weeks ago). Now, you can evaluate Vogelâs performance for yourself, because footage of the big musical number has surfaced online.
This rendition of âConnectionâ features not just Kermit, but also the rest of the Muppet crew, along with original songwriter Paul Williams. (Plus Bobby Moynihan, sticking around after appearing on an earlier song.) And sure, weâve heard âRainbow Connectionâ a lot of times over the yearsâand Vogelâs vocalâs canât quite match the warmth with which Jim Henson filled the song so many years agoâ but itâs also not like weâre not going to cry a little bit when we see Kermit and his friends playing it on a stage for a bunch of happy watchers.
The Muppets will return to the Bowl tonight and tomorrow, putting together a live show that mixes a variety of songs with updates of classic Muppet Show sketches.
