John Denver & the Muppets: A Christmas Together

A Christmas Together is a television special starring John Denver and the Muppets. Based on the album of the same name, this one hour Christmas special was originally produced for ABC and aired on December 5, 1979.

Highlights include:

• Denver and the Muppets sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
• Denver sings "The Pleasure of Your Company."
• Kermit the Frog and Denver reminisce about past Christmases with their friends and families, and sing "The Christmas Wish."
• Miss Piggy confronts Denver in her dressing room about their presumably mutual attraction.
• Denver and Rowlf the Dog sing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
• Miss Piggy, as a doll named Fifi, sings "I Will Wait for You" to Denver, who plays a wooden soldier trying to stay in step with a line of marching soldiers, while singing "Camaraderie".
• The cast sings "The Peace Carol."
• Denver recites the story of Jesus' birth.

The program concludes with Denver and the Muppets singing "Stille Nacht," and children in the audience join in for the English version, "Silent Night."

"The Twelve Days of Christmas"

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Cast meeting

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"The Pleasure of Your Company"

John visits Miss Piggy's dressing room

"The Christmas Wish"

"Christmas Is Coming"

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

"The Peace Carol"

Denver narrates a nativity scene

"Silent Night"

The studio's children's choir

TV Guide ad

Muppet Characters

Animal, Beaker, Camilla, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Foo-Foo, Gonzo, Janice, Kermit the Frog, Lew Zealand, Link Hogthrob, Miss Piggy, Robin the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, Scooter, Statler and Waldorf, The Swedish Chef, Zoot

Credits

• Executive Producer: Jerry Weintraub
• Producer: Bob Finkel
• Director/Choreographer: Tony Charmoli
• Writers: Herbert Baker and Bob Finkel
• Special Material by: Jon Stone
• Special Musical Material/Choral Direction by Ray Charles
• Art director: Ray Klausen
• Musical director: George Wyle
• Music supervisor: Milt Okun
• Nativity Muppets by Caroly Wilcox and Leslee Asch, Nomi Frederick, Jane Gootnick, Joanne Green, Marianne Harms, Calista Hendrickson, Janet Kuhl, Tim Miller, Tim Rose, Polly Smith

Cast

• John Denver

Muppet Performers

• Starring Frank Oz
• With Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz
• And Jim Henson
• Also Steve Whitmire, Kathryn Mullen, Robert Payne, Brian Muehl, Mike Davis, Cheryl Henson, Phillip Huber

Notes

• The three-minute sequence of wooden soldiers dancing and singing "Camaraderie" was deleted from some reruns on The Disney Channel (which also appear to be slightly zoomed in compared to the original broadcast). The original ABC broadcast also included an announcer mentioning the sponsors, Dupont and Dr. Pepper, at the end of the first and last segments. Some Disney Channel airings also included part of an introduction with Michael Eisner and Kermit the Frog which was filmed for an NBC airing of A Muppet Family Christmas.

See also

• A Christmas Together (album)
• A Christmas Together (sheet music book)