#sherry amott

[theworldofthedarkcrystal]

Sherry Amott Tippey, creative supervisor of creature development, creature design, and fabrication supervisor for the original 1982 Dark Crystal movie, had an original Crystal Shard prop at her signing desk during the Dark Crystal Con 2022! She even let me touch it!!! Surprisingly smooth ~ 💜

[jimhenson-themuppetmaster]

Sherry Amott Creative Supervisor on The Dark Crystal.

Sherry Amott lent her theater design and production expertise to the Henson Company throughout the 70s and 80s. She was among the many Muppet designers for The Muppet Show and The Muppet Movie, and worked at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop on various characters for The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Dreamchild. She was Head of Fabrication of Audrey II for the Frank Oz film Little Shop of Horrors.

Amott worked on Sesame Street as well, creating Linda’s pet dog Barkley and designing the outfits for the cover of the famous Sesame Street Fever LP, among other feats.

After “Little Shop of Horrors” Amott married British filmmaker, director and editor John Tippey. Their son Jake was born in London in 1986. Post-Henson she worked briefly as a children’s and young adult librarian before moving to Cincinnati to work for Horizon Productions as a producer, and later, Creative Director. Her freelance work included character and costume design and fabrication for theatre, video and interactive projects. She co-produced and designed an interactive CD-ROM and website for artist January Marx Knoop. In 2007 Sherry Amott Tippey became Creative Director at Curtis, Incorporated, a Visual Communications firm in Cincinnati where she enjoys writing, producing, project management, multimedia production and web design.

Sherry sings with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra Chorale, BACHorale, October Festival Choir, and Voices of Freedom.

Jake is lead guitar, singer and songwriter for The Frankl Project. Recent photos of The Frankl Project opening Riotfest at the House of Blues in Chicago are posted here.

CREDITS Designer The Muppet Show: The Germ, others Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas The Muppet Movie Sesame Street: Barkley Sesame Street Fever: Muppet disco attire The Dark Crystal: Creative supervisor; Creature design and fabrication (Mystics, Pod People, and Slaves) Dreamchild: Mechanical design assistant designer Labyrinth: Senior animatronic designer; Creature workshop teams: The Chilly Downs, Junk Lady, The Wiseman Performer Labyrinth: Firey 3 (assistant)

[astronoglow]

Little Shop of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors is a musical with music by Alan Menken and book and lyrics by Howard Ashman that was based on the 1960 Roger Corman film The Little Shop of Horrors. The musical debuted Off-Broadway in 1982 (with Martin P. Robinson designing and performing Audrey II, and Anthony Asbury as his understudy). In 1986, the musical was turned into a film, directed by Frank Oz in his first non-Henson film (but still utilizing puppetry).

PLOT

Little Shop of Horrors tells the story of a nerdy young florist's assistant named Seymour Krelborn, an employee of Mushnik's Skid Row Florist Shop. The incompetent Seymour is about to be fired by Mr. Mushnik when Audrey, another employee, urges him to bring out a mysterious new strain of plant that he's been tinkering with. Seymour, who has a secret crush on Audrey, names the mysterious plant after her. Mushnik gives Seymour one week to see if the "Audrey II" plant improves his lackluster business.

Unfortunately, Seymour soon learns that Audrey II can talk and has a gruesome appetite for fresh human blood. He also discovers that the plant brings him success, money and fame--as well as the romantic interest of Audrey. In order to continue his good fortune, Seymour decides to keep Audrey II alive by feeding it blood...with tragic results.

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FILM

Directed by Frank Oz and shot in England, the film starred Rick Moranis as Seymour, Ellen Greene as Audrey, Vincent Gardenia as Mushnik, and Steve Martin in an acclaimed turn as sadistic dentist Dr. Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. Also in the cast were Levi Stubbs (as the voice of Audrey II), John Candy (as radio host Wink Winkenson), Miriam Margolyes (as a dental nurse), Kerry Shale (as a Life Magazine flunky), and Danny John-Jules (as a doo-wop singer). The original ending featured Paul Dooley as sales entrepreneur Patrick Martin, but when the scene was reshot and recut for a more upbeat ending, his footage was dropped, and Jim Belushi replaced him.

Oz's own comments on the film tended to focus less on the puppetry effects and more on the difficulties of adaptation in general:

“It's not War and Peace or even a huge, splashy musical. I adhere to the essence of the Howard Ashman book. The street is simply the background, but I'm not opening up the story, going in for dizzying overhead crane shots or shoving in irrelevant dance numbers.”

The movie utilized multiple animatronic versions of the plant Audrey II, ranging from a tiny bud to the enormous version for the climax (with multiple buds built for the end, and a huge array of rampaging plants for the discarded "Don't Feed the Plants" finale). Though not an official Creature Shop production, many of the same performers, designers, and technicians worked with Oz on the film. As Jim Henson remarked in a 1987 interview, he didn't have a hand in the puppetry for Little Shop, but "I was very close to some of the people in that production." These included offspring Heather Henson, in a bit part as a dental patient, and Brian Henson, who served as a principal puppeteer on Audrey II.

The puppeteer crew also included, amongst others, Donald Austen, David Alan Barclay, Michael Bayliss, Marcus Clarke, Sue Dacre, Graham Fletcher, David Greenaway, Toby Philpott, Nigel Plaskitt, Mike Quinn, and Mak Wilson (the latter appearing on camera as a doo-wop singer). Lyle Conway designed Audrey II for the film (based on Marty Robinson's theatrical designs), with Sherry Amott as head of fabrication, and Neal Scanlan and Dave Elsey also contributed.

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2003 BROADWAY REVIVAL

The stage version was revived 2003, making its Broadway debut on October 2, and ran until August 22, 2004. Kerry Butler starred as Audrey. Once again, Martin P. Robinson supervised the puppet design, but this time, Audrey II was constructed in collaboration with the Jim Henson Company. Robinson was the primary plant puppeteer, with assistance from Anthony Asbury, Matt Vogel, and Bill Remington, all of whom doubled as singing Skid Row occupants/derelicts and dental patients. The new Audrey II was considerably different from the original off-Broadway version, while still more stylized in contrast to the film's animatronic plant. As with the other productions, however, four versions were used, from a hand-puppet Audrey to a giant version which, at its full height, rose 22 feet into the air and hovered menacingly over the fifth row. A hydraulic lift, operated by joystick, is used to help this effect.

The same puppet, weighted down further, was used in a national tour; Paul McGinnis, Marc Petrosino, Michael Latini and Anthony Asbury all performed in this version with Matt Vogel filling in for vacationing puppeteers. Robinson and the Jim Henson Company received puppet design credit in all listings and reviews.

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REFERENCES

Although the reference is made in name only, and does not feature any elements from Little Shop of Horrors, a comic book story from Muppet Magazine issue 16 was entitled "Little Swamp of Horrors".

In the Muppets Tonight episode that featured Rick Moranis as a host, Dr. Phil van Neuter calls the movie a family film. When Clifford points out that it's not, Van Neuter remarks that Clifford doesn't know his family.

In the plant episode of Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, the plant, Tootsie, is a parody of Audrey II and grows after eating Bert's oatmeal cookies and plant food.

The Parque Plaza Sésamo stage show Gran Musical features a medley of songs from the show, using tracks from the movie's soundtrack. Lola, Abby and Zoe lip-sync to "Prologue (Little Shop of Horrors)", The Count portrays Orin singing "Dentist," and they all sing "Don't Feed the Plants" as an Audrey II replica comes on stage. The park previously used the title song, in Spanish, in the 2010 stage show Gala Sésamo.

During callback auditions for season 44 of Sesame Street, one of the auditioning actresses sang "Somewhere That's Green" with Elmo. A clip of this performance was included in a 2013 video. (YouTube)

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CONNECTIONS

Leslie Carrara-Rudolph played Audrey in a Concord, California production of Little Shop.

Andy Heath puppeteered Audrey II in a 2004 Jersey Opera House revival, and more recently a 2006 production which later transferred to the West End.

Robby Merkin played keyboards and orchestrated for the original off-Broadway run and arranged and played keyboards and synthesizer for the 1986 film

[themuppetmasterencyclopedia]

Aughra PERFORMER Frank Oz puppeteer Billie Whitelaw voice DEBUT 1982 DESIGN Brian Froud creature/costume design Lyle Conway design/fabrication supervisor Jim Henson and Frank Oz are interviewed with Aughra. Aughra is the only one of her species, born from the rocks' need to perceive the world of The Dark Crystal. She is old enough to remember the world that existed before the race of Gelfling came to be, in the days before the Mystics and Skeksis evolved their separate codes. Her exact age is unknown, but she has existed for at least a thousand years. She studied the movements of the planets in the heavens in her observatory and lost an eye observing a Great Conjunction of the Three Suns a thousand years ago. Her remaining eye can be removed from her body and remain fully functional. Jen was sent by his master to Aughra to fulfill the prophecy and find the shard that would make The Dark Crystal whole again. In the closing credits, which follow the names with character descriptions in the manner of silent films and early talkies, Aughra is labeled as "A Keeper of Secrets." The fabrication team, who doubled on the UrSkeks, consisted of David Barclay, Jeremy Hunt, Paul Jiggins, Graeme Galvin, and Steve Court. Since 2015, the Aughra puppet is on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts as part of their permanent Worlds of Puppetry exhibit. Aughra Description Wizened, three-and-a-half feet tall, ram-horned, three-eyed, ornery, capricious, and maternal. Aughra has one working detachable eye and two blind eyes. She is the embodiment of Thra, similar to a nature god. Aughra is inscrutable and gruff. History Origin Old enough to know the world that existed before the race of Gelfling came to be, Aughra remembered life on Thra before the Mystics and Skeksis evolved their separate codes. “Of the race of Aughra, I, Aughra, am alone, the first and last. Born from the need for rocks and trees for an eye to see the world. The wind blew and the blind trees sang and roots twisted in the dark rocks and the roots sang and the rocks cracked and I was Aughra. This is my song. The rocks will me to be their eye; the roots willed me to be their eye. Blind rocks that felt the heartbeat of the World; blind trees swaying in the breathing of the wind made to view for them all the shapes of the World. Slowly, slowly the roots split the rock and I was free. The First Age of Aughra was of innocence and it was long. Then it was Aughra and the race of the Gelfling who shared the World. The Gelfling sang and danced for the joy of their lives, and I was part of their joy. - Aughra” In the time that Thra was a place of peace and harmony, Aughra had a son – Raunip. Though all of Thra already looked to Aughra as a mother figure, becoming a true mother changed Aughra’s world entirely. She sensed the coming Great Conjunction that would bring immense change. She waited for the suns to align; for the Great Conjunction to occur. The urSkeks found Aughra on the mountaintop, burned by the light of their arrival. They healed her burns and restored sight to one of her eyes. She exchanged knowledge with the urSkeks — she gave them knowledge of Thra, and in return they gave her knowledge of the stars. The urSkeks built the Castle of the Crystal, and TekTih built Aughra an Observatory and Orrery for her to study the stars for signs of the next Great Conjunction. Aughra learned that the urSkeks, exiled from their home, had a Crystal on their home world. They traveled through to the Crystal on Thra. Aughra and Jen in Observatory Aughra and Jen in the Observatory “On the day I gave one eye to see the splendor of the Three Suns, a new joy came to the World. I lay on the mountain above the Crystal and saw the Three Suns move close together. I lay under rocks with one eye open to the light, and for one moment and forever I saw the Eye of the Three Suns shining down upon me. Then from that light my eye darkened, and in that moment of light the urSkeks opened the door in the Crystal and entered our World. The pain of my lost eye was joined once to the joy I had in the urSkeks, but bitter, sour, poisoned rock is that joy to me now. - Aughra” Aughra was also present at the Second Great Conjunction and witnessed the division of the urSkeks into Skeksis and urRu. After the division, she learned from both the urRu and Skeksis. The urRu migrated to the valley, and Aughra witnessed the Skeksis crack the crystal. As time passed the Skeksis went mad and Aughra retired to her observatory, rarely seen. As he lay dying, urSu the Master instructed Jen to visit Aughra and retrieve the True Shard from her. Jen began his quest to find the home of Aughra. As he wandered looking for her, she captured him. She did not know any Gelfling had survived the Garthim War. After Jen shared that he was sent by urSu and was looking for a crystal shard, she released him and led him to her Observatory. There she explained the coming Great Conjunction, and told Jen that he needs to use the shard to heal the Crystal. She provided him with all of the crystal shards in her possession, one of which is the True Shard. Aughra could not tell him which to choose; Jen had to determine the correct one. Suddenly, Garthim broke into the Observatory, captured Aughra, and then destroyed the Observatory. The Garthim took her to the Castle of the Crystal, presented her to the Skeksis, and then imprisoned her in the Chamber of Life. From her imprisonment, Aughra watched Kira as she was drained of her essence, and told her to fight back by calling to the creatures. The creatures in the castle helped free Kira and Aughra. Garthim destroy the Observatory Garthim destroy the Observatory Aughra witnessed the healing of the Crystal and the recombining of the urRu and Skeksis into the urSkeks, and declared: “What was sundered and undone shall be whole, the two made one.” Production Development A few characters came together relatively easily. Aughra, for example, existed only as a head when a video test was called for at short notice. A body was quickly assembled from three bean bags and a hastily sewn costume, all mounted on a modified Skeksis harness. So the essence of her body movement was established from the start; modifications were made, however, in her design and assembly. Sculptor Lyle Conway was key in the development of Aughra, as well as the entire Skeksis character group. Storyboard of Aughra Storyboard of Aughra Concept art of Aughra by Brian Froud Concept art of Aughra by Brian Froud The eyes, as Brian Froud recognized, would be crucial to the success of the characters that were being developed. Static taxidermists’ eyes, no matter how realistic, would not suffice for Jen, Kira, Aughra or any of the characters who would inhabit the world of The Dark Crystal. They needed eyes that blinked and swiveled as naturally as those of any human performer. This presented two challenges that no puppet builder had ever faced before. Precisely the right kind of glass (or plastic) eyes had to be found, and mechanisms to control them on cue had to be devised. The search for glass eyes took months. The problem was not in finding a number of skilled manufacturers of artificial eyes willing to help the Henson people; it was simply that these companies were not equipped to produce eyes of the shape that was needed. Sherry Amott reports that every conceivable source, not excluding Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, was canvassed before the appropriate eyes were found. Eventually, the supplier turned out to be an English firm that handcrafted the eyes to Henson’s specifications. Performance Frank Oz, who initially wanted to concentrate on directing, finally relented and took on the performance of Aughra. After the first voice auditions were recorded, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Gary Kurtz listened to them and made a short list. From this list, selected performers were invited back to make a second test, this time working in synch with a scene from the film. Almost at once, difficulties arose. It was found, for example, that the Chamberlain, as performed by Frank Oz, spoke so quickly that it was a considerable problem for an actor to stay in synch while remaining in character. It became very important to select actors whose natural voices were close to what was needed. To be avoided at all costs were “forced” voices or voices that sounded too cartoon-like. What was required were actors who were capable of “breathing life” into the puppets that would appear on screen. For Aughra, three possible candidates quickly emerged, and this selection was narrowed down to two and then one. The final choice was made partly because the actress selected had more dubbing experience. When she came to work on the actual looping, however, it was found that she had to “reach” too far to stay in character and it was decided to replace her with the actress who had been her closest rival. Performers Frank Oz Aughra – Character Performer Billie Whitelaw Aughra – Character Voice

[greatconjunction]

The eyes, as Brian Froud recognized, would be crucial to the success of the characters that were being developed. Static taxidermists’ eyes, no matter how realistic, would not suffice for Jen, Kira, Aughra or any of the characters who would inhabit the world of The Dark Crystal. They needed eyes that blinked and swiveled as naturally as those of any human performer. This presented two challenges that no puppet builder had ever faced before. Precisely the right kind of glass (or plastic) eyes had to be found, and mechanisms to control them on cue had to be devised. The search for glass eyes took months. The problem was not in finding a number of skilled manufacturers of artificial eyes willing to help the Henson people; it was simply that these companies were not equipped to produce eyes of the shape that was needed. Sherry Amott reports that every conceivable source, not excluding Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, was canvassed before the appropriate eyes were found. Eventually, the supplier turned out to be an English firm that handcrafted the eyes to Henson’s specifications.

[beyrbird]

the woman in the photo, who is the mother of one of my best friends, is a previous muppet & costume designer and friend of jim henson. she is a wonderful and beautiful lady, and her husband is just an incredible. i had the privilege of spending quite some time with this family overseas last year, and i was able to hear a lot of incredible henson stories! this picture, taken at the 35th anniversary of the muppet show in queens, makes me so incredibly happy. they also got to meet walter!

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sherry_Amott

[jimhenson-themuppetmaster]

A Rare Photograph, Signed by Jim Henson of The Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas Crew. CREDITS Executive Producer: David Lazer Producer/Director: Jim Henson Based on the Book by: Russell and Lillian Hoban Writer: Jerry Juhl Music and Lyrics by: Paul Williams Muppet Creative Consultants: Michael K. Frith and Frank Oz Muppet Performers: Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, Marilyn Sokol, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Eren Ozker; Jim Henson (uncredited) Settings designed by William Beeton Puppets by Don Sahlin with Caroly Wilcox, Dave Goelz, Mari Kaestle, Amy Van Gilder, John Lovelady, Marianne Harms, Rollin Krewson, Leslee Asch, Janet Lerman Special Muppet effects: Faz Fazakas with Larry Jameson Muppet clothes: Calista Hendrickson with Sherry Amott Set decoration: Stephen Finnie Sound effects: Dick Maitland, Barbara Wood Design services provided by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Produced in association with Parents' Magazine Films Inc. and Westfall Productions