TimeOut Recommends Puppets as the best thing to do in NYC this weekend
Written by Shaye Weaver
Monday August 2 2021
An NYC icon, Lamb Chop, is returning to her roots in NYC during the International Puppet Fringe Festival this month.
The native New Yorker and former star of Lamb Chop’s Play Along will return to iconic Manhattan landmarks as she makes her way to the Museum of the City of New York’s exhibition "Puppets of New York," opening August 13 in partnership with the International Puppet Fringe Festival.
Beginning today, she'll make her way across Manhattan to The Clemente (107 Suffolk St.) on the Lower East Side where the International Puppet Fringe Festival is taking place, the Top of the Rock (30 Rockefeller Center), Central Park, Times Square and Governors Island Ferry.
The Museum of the City of New York and the Puppet Fringe Festival will share photos of Lamb Chop's stops on social media @MuseumofCityNY and @PuppetFringeNYC before she makes her first-ever museum debut.
She'll, of course, be accompanied by Mallory Lewis (the performer and daughter of Shari Lewis).
Lamb Chop, a character created and performed by Bronx-born Shari Lewis, first appeared in 1957 on Captain Kangaroo and later got her own musical-comedy show in 1960. The feisty but charming puppet character ended up getting another show on PBS in 1992 that lasted five years.
"I’m a sheep from the city that never sleeps, and I can’t wait to return to New York to debut in my first-ever museum exhibition," Lamb Chop tells us. "Us puppets are an integral part of the city’s culture and history, and as we celebrate puppets’ contributions, I’m here to bring joy to New Yorkers along the way."
If Lamb Chop (or any other puppet) played a special part in your childhood, you won't want to miss the Museum of the City of New York's exhibit, where more than 100 iconic puppets—including Punch and Judy, Oscar the Grouch, Lamb Chop and Lion King—will be on display to celebrate the history of puppetry in NYC. The exhibition is also part of Puppet Week NYC, featuring the International Puppet Fringe Festival, the world’s largest puppet event.
With Metrocard in paw, she'll hit up all the big spots.
Photograph: Asya Gorovits