Exhibit on Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’ film opening at Atlanta puppetry center

An intricately worn stone wall, dripping with realistic trails of simulated water, greets visitors to the new exhibit at the Center for Puppetry Arts, "Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Journey to Goblin City, A 30th Anniversary Celebration."

It's more like a movie set than a museum exhibit, which comes naturally to a facility that is both museum and performance space.

“We have the best of the museum and the best of the theater, to make something that you can immerse yourself in,” said marketing director Therese Aun. The displays were all made in-house.

Prepare to get immersed, and/or lost, in the "Labyrinth." The 1986 cult movie, featuring a horde of puppets from Jim Henson, a 14-year-old Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie at his wild-haired peak, will be all over the place this weekend.

In addition to the fancy, $125-a-ticket Labyrinth Masquerade Ball, being held Thursday night in the center's atrium, there will be a full 35-hour "track" of puppet-centric programming in this weekend's Dragon Con, the sci-fi/fantasy convention that will take over downtown for four days.

Because tickets for the puppet center's "Labyrinth" ball sold out within minutes, and many of Dragon Con's cosplay enthusiasts will want a place to flaunt their "Labyrinth"-ian outfits, there will be a Jim Henson-themed costume contest Sunday at the Con, and an appearance by Brian Henson.

You can bet Henson, Jim Henson's son, will speak about "Labyrinth," his father's last movie, and a film that some say broke the elder Henson's heart. Critics and audiences ho-hummed in 1986, and the movie earned only about half of its $25 million cost.

“Some of the reviews were so cruel,” Henson’s daughter Cheryl Henson said during a visit to the puppetry center earlier this year. “My mother called it his most personal film, and people rejecting it felt very personal.”

Henson would die suddenly four years later at age 53 from a bacterial infection, without ever making another movie.

But by then, the tide was turning. "Labyrinth" began to earn a devoted following through the new medium of home video and through television broadcasts. Now it's seen as a touchstone, a "Wizard of Oz" for Generation X. During anniversary screenings this year, 40-somethings have been excitedly taking their children to the film, so their kids can have the same thrill.

It’s recognized as a signal moment in American pop culture. Producer George Lucas joined forces with Henson, a marriage of two dynasties that would have made the Habsburgs proud. It is also a crowning achievement of puppetry and animatronics, before such techniques were swept away by the rising winds of CGI.

Those puppets’ complexity and cleverness are apparent in the exhibit, where we learn that Hoggle (our guide to the Labyrinth) required five puppeteers: Four operated remote-controlled servo-motors, to independently manipulate various muscle groups in his warty, oversized head, making him frown, smile and grimace; one was actually inside the costume.

The center has a close relationship with the Henson family (Jim Henson was in Atlanta to cut the ribbon when the center opened in 1978), and the exhibit is bristling with objects and drawings borrowed from the estate. There are armaments, ballgowns, wonderful strange combatants from the battle scene, and about a half dozen paintings from fantasy illustrator Brian Froud and set design drawings from Elliot Scott.

Cheryl Henson said the Henson children had a big impact on the making of the movie, influencing her father to choose Bowie as the Goblin King.

She said her own behavior also helped inspired the story. Like Connelly’s Sarah, Cheryl wanted to get away from an overpowering father, and ran off to a strange world. (In her case, it was Russia.)

The language was a problem for her, however, and probably hastened her return home. “One of the great blessings of my life is that I was bad at Russian,” she said.

The "Labyrinth" exhibit is the first to go in the center's new Dean Dubose Smith Special Exhibits Gallery, a space created during the puppetry center's recent $14 million, 15,000-square-foot expansion.

The expansion created ample showrooms for the center’s remarkable collections, displayed in two galleries in the Worlds of Puppetry Museum: the Jim Henson Collection and the Global Collection.

Among the items on display is the world’s largest collection of Muppets.

Finally, those visiting the museum ought to consider catching one of the center's expanding schedule of performances for children and adults. Because puppet shows are what it's all about.