Lost ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ Song Unveiled
We’ve got some fun news for all you Muppet fans out there. According to a recent piece on BBC News, a lost song from the The Muppet Christmas Carol has been found and reinstated.
The news was recently revealed by the film’s director Brian Henson!
During a recent interview with BBC Radio 2, Henson said that he was excited that the track titled “When Love Is Gone” could once again be a part of upcoming versions of the film.
The ballad is sung to Ebenezer Scrooge by his fiancee Belle. Henson revealed that the decision was originally made to remove it as Disney felt at the time that the musical number wouldn’t appeal to young audiences.
As the song was cut from the cinema release they misplaced the video masters and couldn’t find the negative either. However, two weeks ago, Henson received a call telling him that the film was being remastered in 4K and that he should take a look at the new version.
He wasn’t told that the lost piece of the film had been found. Instead the studio decided to surprise the director with their find. Henson recalls, “I was so excited. They actually hid it… so I went down and they said: ‘But before we show it to you, we’ve got something else we want to show you’. And they put up reel four of Christmas Carol with When Love Is Gone.”
Henson continues, “I was like, ‘No, you did not!’ and they said, ‘Yes we did! We found it!’ I was so happy, I was so happy.’
So when are audiences likely to get a look at The Muppets Christmas Carol with “When the Love Is Gone” in its rightful place? Henson isn’t sure, telling the BBC, “They are all set with the full-length version again. I don’t know if they are going to get it up on Disney Plus in time for Christmas because they have all these processes but it is coming back, the full-length version is coming back.”
“When the Love is Gone” is sung when Scrooge (Sir Michael Caine) goes back in time to a Christmas past to witness his younger self with fiance Belle (Meredith Braun.) Belle sings this somber song about “a time when I was sure that you and I were truly one, that our future was forever and would never come undone…”
The song was cut as producer Jeffrey Katzenberg felt the musical number was too “sophisticated emotionally” and wasn’t relatable to children.
“So I reluctantly agreed (to remove it) because he said: ‘If you say you’re not going to do it, you don’t have to do it’, and I was like: ‘Well now, darn it, I guess I will because you want me to’,” Henson said.
We here at MickeyBlog will be paying close attention to whether this new version of the film makes it to Disney+ in time for the holiday season! Keep checking in with us for further updates!
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Source: BBC NEWS
I love this song, and I am so glad that it is being put back into the movie! It is beautiful. It is also a great moment to see inside Scrooge’s heart. I’m really excited about this!