Dance your cares away *clap clap* at New York’s New Victory Theater with Fraggle Rock Live
Whether you grew up in the 1980s with Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober and Red as your after-school companions, or whether you have young children who have discovered them through Apple TV’s award-winning 2022 revival, the Fraggle Rock theme tune occupies a very specific piece of the human brain. It gets in and it does not leave. Hearing it live, in a theatre, with an audience full of people who have been carrying it around for anywhere between five and forty years means you should prepare yourself for one giant clap-along.
The Background
From 1983 to 1987, Jim Henson brought the Fraggles to life on screen in a puppet TV series that was conceived as a tool for promoting world peace and understanding by exploring how different cultures learn to coexist. Apple TV revived that spirit in 2022 with a new series that earned its acclaim. Now, The Jim Henson Company has brought the world of Fraggle Rock to the stage for the first time, in a brand-new musical currently on US Tour.
The Story
The legend of the lost Celebration Stone promises untold party potential – if only the Fraggles can find it. It is, as all great Fraggle plots are, both completely silly and gently meaningful. Their beloved underground world bursts to life around them: walk-around versions of the Fraggles themselves, puppet-sized Doozers marching with characteristic purpose, new characters woven into the familiar fabric and a larger-than-life Gorg who earns every gasp.
The show makes clever use of pre-recorded video alongside live performance, allowing the on-screen Fraggles and the on-stage characters to interact seamlessly.
The Songs
Do the Sashay, Doozer Marching Song, and of course the Fraggle Rock theme – the story is told through song and understands that it is playing to two audiences simultaneously: the children in the room for whom this is brand new and brilliant and the adults sitting next to them who are trying very hard not to sing the theme tune. It serves both generations.
Final Thoughts
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock LIVE is charming, colourful, and true to the original spirit Jim Henson embedded in these characters forty years ago, whilst carrying the important message underneath all the silliness. It is the perfect afternoon out for families and a genuinely wonderful piece of live entertainment for anyone who has ever believed, even briefly, that Fraggle Rock had the right idea about how the world should work.
★★★★
Reviewed by West End Wilma
Dance your cares away at New Victory Theater until June 21, 2026.
Who are the characters of Fraggle Rock
The Fraggles
Gobo (the leader)
Mokey (the heart of the Rock)
Wembley (the “Wembler”- meaning indecisive!)
Boober (the realist)
Red (the fun seeker)
Fraggles are between 18 and 24 inches tall, love to dance, sing, swim, eat, yell “whoooppppppieeeeeee” and are always up for a party.
Every Fraggle contributes something special to Fraggle Rock and they all have jobs…but only work 30 minutes a week!
The Doozers
These are the small, industrious, technologically advanced creatures that stand about knee-high to a Fraggle. They love to work, and especially enjoy building beautiful crystalline structures that tower over the Rock that the Fraggles love to eat!
The Gorgs
Ma, Pa and Junior Gorg are three big, blundering beasts- the last of their kind- who live in a castle with a giant garden. Their garden grows the radishes the Fraggles love to eat and the Doozers use to make their tasty constructions.
Doc and Sprocket
The Fraggles call us “Silly Creatures” and see our world as “Outer Space”. Fraggle Rock’s main human is Doc: a scientist earning her PhD who lives with her lovable dog, Sprocket. Sprocket sees the Fraggles come and go through the hole in their wall, and he’s constantly trying to convince Doc of their existence – but she always seems to just miss seeing them!
