Over 600 people attended Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Live at the Sanderson Centre on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Based on the 2022 Apple TV+ original series Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, the evening performance had Fraggle fans of all ages tapping their toes and singing along as they joined Gobo, Red, Mokey, Wembley and Boober on their adventure to find the missing Celebration Stone.
Along the way, the five had various run-ins and interactions with iconic characters like the Doozers, Junior Gorg, Uncle Travelling Matt and Marjory the Trash Heap.
For the fans of the original series, which ran from 1983 to 1987, there were plenty of classic tunes to enjoy including the Fraggle Rock Theme song, “Go with the Flow,” “Follow Me,” “Pass it On,” and more.
Between the clever puppetry and set design, the use of projections and the new storyline, the live experience honoured the spirit of the iconic series while also introducing more modern elements, making it relatable to both longtime fans and newcomers alike.
In the end when Gobo, Red, Mokey, Wembley and Boober successfully reunited the pieces of the Celebration Stone, silly creatures in the audience were given a lesson on friendship and the importance of everyone working together.
After the show, Valentina Otterman, said that having grown up watching the original series, she was overall impressed with the performance.
“Oh, it was awesome, the costumes were so cool; I was kind of just expecting puppets, but then they came out and they were human-sized and it was just unreal,” she said. “Even the hair and the way it moved was so cool. We were trying to figure out how they were seeing and dancing at the same time, it was just choreographed so well.”
Otterman said that while she brought along her young daughter, she and her company were there as longtime fans themselves.
“We may have brought the baby, but we were here for us,” she said with a laugh. “We were totally clapping along the whole time.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
