By David Gordon, Managing Editor

There’s a lot to enjoy in “Stuffed and Unstrung,” a live improv puppet show by The Jim Henson Company’s adult division, Henson Alternative at the Union Square Theater. But there’s just as much to be frustrated about.

The director, Patrick Bristow (one of the more recognizable TV guest-star/character actors of the 1990’s) hosts the “Whose Line is it Anyway?”-style show where audience members shout out ideas and the puppeteers interpolate them into sketches.

Ideally, there is a 90-minute show somewhere in ‘Stuffed.’ If anything, it’s a bloated, over-stuffed few hours with an intermission (and, after a long day, who wants to sit through another 15 minutes of downtime?). The puppeteers (a rotating roster including creator and producer Brian Henson) are talented, no doubt about that, but they’re not improv artists.
Though whether or not they are improv artists, improv with audience suggestions relies on good suggestions. Without good suggestions, it’s hard to be funny. A skit involving George Washington and Scientology fell incredibly flat. On the other hand, a bunch of hot dogs at an Alcoholics Anonymous-style meeting for cannibalistic hot dogs was a crowd pleaser.

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the show was intentionally scripted. Jim Henson, the mastermind behind Kermit the Frog. Miss Piggie, Fozzie, Gonzo and the other Muppets, created it in 1956 with his wife Jane. It’s a lip-synced version of “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face,” from Lerner and Lowe’s “My Fair Lady.” In this skit, a female puppet sings the song to a pink sheet, which turns into an ominous floating blue head and starts eating her.
It was simple, dignified and didn’t deliberately pander to the adults-only crowd. Best part of the night, for sure.

Jim Henson Company puppeteers in the midst of a sequence in “Stuffed and Unstrung,” an adult improv show directed and hosted by Patrick Bristow at the Union Square Theater. (Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg/The Karpel Group)