The Muppets Take Manhattan - Plot

Plot

As the film opens, Kermit, Miss Piggy, and their friends are graduating from college and are performing in a variety show, Manhattan Melodies, on campus ("Together Again"). Kermit believes that there is "something missing" from the script, but his friends suggest that the group take the show to Broadway. Miss Piggy, in particular, hopes to make enough money to marry Kermit as he has promised. Kermit and the others are so confident in the show that they anticipate becoming instant stars. First they start with New York producer Martin Price (Dabney Coleman) who wants them to pay him the money for the show. Just then Martin's secretary Nancy (Gates McFadden) comes in with an elderly woman and two police officers where the elderly woman identifies Price as con artist Murray Plotsky. Plotsky tries to use Camilla the Chicken and Gonzo as hostages to get out only to be subdued by Animal and Camilla. The Muppets try other theatrical producers with no success ("You Can't Take No For An Answer").

As the months pass and the group runs out of money, its members are forced to get jobs throughout the United States ("Saying Goodbye"). Scooter gets a job as a house manager at a movie theater in Cleveland, Ohio where he finds the Swedish Chef as the popcorn server and Lew Zealand as a dedicated viewer of a 3-D movie. Fozzie joins some other bears in hibernating within the forests of Maine where he has a hard time hibernating. Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem have a gig in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania performing in a retirement home.

Kermit stays in New York to work on the script and gets a job at a diner befriending the owner Pete (Louis Zorich) and his daughter Jenny (Juliana Donald), a waitress and aspiring fashion designer. Also working at the restaurant are Rizzo the Rat who secures employment for the other rats Tatooey, Masterson, Chester, and Yolanda. Later that night, Kermit climbs to the top of the Empire State Building and shouts from the top that he and his friends will soon be on Broadway. Unknown to Kermit, Miss Piggy also stayed behind.

Kermit and Rizzo try to find a way to promote Kermit's play. First Kermit enters the Winesop Theatrical Agency to see producer Leonard Winesop (John Landis). Pretending to be a fellow producer, he bluffs his way through an impromptu meeting praising the play ("Boffo, Lenny! Socko, Lenny!"), but Winesop discards the unread script soon after Kermit leaves the room. Then Kermit tries to get his picture on the wall of other famous people who dined at Sardi's Restaurant, ending up replacing a picture of Liza Minnelli. The rats assist Kermit by creating a whispering campaign amongst patrons. However, Liza eventually enters and ends up asking Vincent Sardi, Jr. why her portrait was taken down. One of the rats ends up giving themselves away by causing havoc when a waiter discovers Minnelli's portrait near the table where Kermit was sitting. This causes Kermit and the rats to be ejected from the restaurant.

While in Central Park, Jenny comforts Kermit with his loss in the first two attempts. Miss Piggy, jealous of Jenny and Kermit's friendship, secretly spies on them before a purse snatcher (Gary Tacon) steals her purse causing her to borrow some skates from a roller skater (Gregory Hines). When Miss Piggy catches up to the purse snatcher, a police officer (Joe Jamrog) arrests the purse snatcher just as Kermit and Jenny catch up with her. While Kermit and Miss Piggy argue about Kermit's relationship with Jenny, the roller skater unsuccessfully tries to reclaim his skates from Miss Piggy who then makes up with Kermit. After a ride around Central Park with Kermit ("I'm Gonna Always Love You"), Miss Piggy also takes a job as a waitress at the same diner as Kermit. Kermit reads more letters from his friends while the rats handle a customer (Brooke Shields) that Miss Piggy was with. The letters from Kermit reveal that Gonzo and Camilla are in Michigan trying to make a successful water act. Rowlf is in Delaware working at a dog kennel where Mr. Skeffington (James Coco) leaves his dog for the weekend. Another letter that Kermit got was from Bernard Crawford, a Broadway producer who is interested in producing Kermit's play.

Kermit meets with Ronnie Crawford (Lonny Price) who is willing to fund Manhattan Melodies in order to prove himself to his father, Bernard (Art Carney). In his excitement over having finally sold the play, Kermit fails to notice a "Don't Walk" sign and is hit by a car when making his way back to the restaurant. When Ronnie comes to the diner to bring up his father's approval to Miss Piggy, Jenny, and Pete, Miss Piggy has Pete send a telegram to the rest of Kermit's friends informing them to get to New York as quickly as they can. Fozzie ends up bringing the bears with him, Gonzo brings along some chickens, Rowlf brings along some dogs, Scooter brings Swedish Chef and Lew Zealand along, and the Electric Mayhem bring Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and Beauregard along. Kermit awakens in the hospital with no memory of his name, friends, or past. His doctor (Linda Lavin) tells Kermit to find a new life for himself. As "Phil," he finds a job at Mad Ave Advertising with fellow frogs Bill, Gil, and Jill while his friends, Jenny and Ronnie search the city for him ahead of the show's opening at the Biltmore Theater. After Kermit visits the diner with the frogs and plays the Manhattan Melodies theme "Together Again" with a spoon and glasses of water, his friends recognize him. Miss Piggy restores his memory with a punch after Kermit mocks the idea of romance between a pig and a frog.

Kermit realizes that what the script needs is more "frogs and dogs and bears and chickens and whatever", not less, and adds the cast members' many friends from around the country to the show as supernumeraries. With the expanded cast and Jenny's costumes, Manhattan Melodies is successful ("Right Where I Belong"/"Somebody's Getting Married"/"Waiting for the Wedding"/"He'll Make Me Happy"/"The Ceremony"). On opening night, Piggy substitutes a real minister (Cyril Jenkins) for Gonzo in the wedding scene finale where the other Muppet characters, many of the characters from Sesame Street, and Uncle Traveling Matt from Fraggle Rock attend. Kermit is surprised, but willingly says "I do" and he and Miss Piggy happily wed.