MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – Fraggle Rock has reached an all-new level with a brand-new live show at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Now showing, Fraggle Rock: A Space-y Adventure marks a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Jim Henson Company and NASA; the Emmy Award-winning Fraggles leave their underground caves to explore the wonders of today’s NASA.
The show features full-body costumed Fraggles and puppet Doozers crafted by the award-winning Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
“It felt like these two worlds belong together,” said show director John Tartaglia. “Jim (Henson) really loved technology, and he loved innovation, and that’s obviously what NASA does so well. And the Fraggles have always been about exploring new worlds."
Tartaglia explained that the character Uncle Traveling Matt, making his live stage debut, has always been fascinated with “outer space” (the human world), and now discovers there is even more beyond what he imagined—real outer space.
Uncle Traveling Matt, along with Gobo and Red, follows a mysterious postcard all the way to Florida’s Space Coast. There, silly creatures — what Fraggles call humans — encounter real NASA space explorers and embark on a musical, comedic quest to learn about the Artemis missions and humanity’s next giant leap to the moon.
The Fraggles’ journey includes meeting a member of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems crew and talking with a real astronaut aboard the International Space Station, bringing the magic of space exploration to life.
“I think we all can relate to that passion of knowing what’s up there and knowing what it would be like to be on the moon. So it just felt like the right way to tell the story," said Tartaglia.
In his role with Fraggle Rock, Tartaglia has been executive producer, writer, director, and puppeteer for multiple characters, including Gobo.
Tartaglia is an Emmy-nominated and Tony-nominated creator, producer, writer, director, and puppeteer who serves as the creative supervisor of Fraggle Rock at The Jim Henson Company.
Fraggle Rock: A Space-y Adventure is included with admission and performed twice daily at 12:30 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. in the Universe Theater at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
During the Holidays in Space event, visitors can also enjoy a special character breakfast featuring the stars of the show, offering a chance to meet favorite Fraggles up close, enjoy themed menu items, and capture out-of-this-world holiday memories.