"Music Hath Charms" is a Muppet routine performed in a number of variety show appearances during the 1960s.
Kermit prepares to play the piano, noticing a sign on top reading "Music Hath Charms to Soothe the Savage Beast" (paraphrasing William Congreve). He scoffs, when menacing monsters of increasing size (a Snerf, a monster with claws, and a tall monster intended to reappear in the unmade The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow) appear at the piano. Kermit plays "Tea for Two" and "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" to calm them down and send them away. At the end, once Kermit thinks he's home free, his piano comes alive and eats him.
This sketch was performed by Kermit in a tux on The Hollywood Palace (on March 19, 1966) and The Ed Sullivan Show (on January 15, 1967). The punchline of the routine was recreated for a La Choy industrial film (pictured above) among a montage of Muppets, Inc.'s sketches involving explosions and consumption.
A variation of "Music Hath Charms" appears in the third Sesame Street test show, wherein a pair of Anything Muppets play a piano that turns into a hungry monster.
An updated version of the skit with a human piano player in place of Kermit and newly built monster puppets (along with substituting "Puttin' on the Ritz" in place of "Tea for Two") appears in the Jim Henson's Inspired Silliness stage show.[1]
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- ↑ John Tartaglia (@johnnytartags) confirmed in the comments of a video of rehearsal footage that it is in fact a recreation of the classic "Music Hath Charms" bit (May 27, 2023)