cast for the role of Wes<\/a> on Sesame Street, a new character introduced to talk about race and racial justice.<\/p>\nFILE: Bradley Freeman Jr. performing as the character of Wes in Sesame Street. (Bradley Freeman Jr.)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been on for 56 years, so I\u2019m very much a drop in the bucket of that franchise,\u201d Freeman said of Sesame Street. \u201cI feel lucky that I get to be one of those characters who\u2019s introduced and is at the moment considered to be a fairly main character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeman is now one of 11 principal puppeteers on Sesame Street, and is by far the youngest member of the cast. He said he feels grateful to be one of the thousands of puppeteers who \u201cmade it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get into that 11,\u201d Freeman said, \u201cbut even harder to get into is that core group of like six folks at The Muppets.\u201d<\/p>\n
After working on a few Muppet projects, Freeman said he is now grateful to be learning and working alongside the same puppeteers he watched growing up.<\/p>\n
FILE: The Great Gonzo, left, puppeteer Dave Goelz, and Rizzo the Rat attend “The Muppets” panel on day 3 of Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 11, 2015, in San Diego. (Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n
\u201cDave Goelz, who\u2019s been doing this for over 50 years now and performs Gonzo and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, now he\u2019s a friend and I have his number,\u201d Freeman said, \u201cas much as he regrets giving it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there have been several attempts to resurrect The Muppets franchise, Freeman said this format is the best showcase of Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang.<\/p>\n
FILE- In this March 11, 2014, file photo, Kermit the Frog, left, and Miss Piggy arrive at the World Premiere of “Muppets Most Wanted,” in Los Angeles. (Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe place that these characters really thrive is The Muppet Show, this Vaudevillian-style sketch show,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cThat\u2019s the silliness that they thrive in and that they deserve to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Muppets special, which Deadline reported could serve as a backdoor pilot for an entire series, features singer Sabrina Carpenter as its special guest.<\/p>\n
FILE – Sabrina Carpenter performs during the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa\/Invision\/AP, File) (2024 Invision)<\/p>\n
Of the many celebrities Freeman has had the opportunity to work with, he said Carpenter is probably one of the most down-to-earth he has worked with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so glad that we got Sabrina Carpenter,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cWe had a whole bunch of fun doing different choreo and TikToks. She was like, I want to bring you guys on tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miss Piggy later appeared at Carpenter\u2019s final show in her Short & Sweet tour, offering to provide \u201ca few notes\u201d on her performance.<\/p>\n
Freeman said he is excited about the prospect of Carpenter\u2019s ability to introduce younger audiences to the characters.<\/p>\n
\u201cSabrina Carpenter is a person who can reach people like my little brother, my little sister, who maybe wouldn\u2019t have chosen to watch \u2018The Muppets,\u2019\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n
Having returned to his alma mater as an instructor, Freeman uses the knowledge he has gained and connections he has made to pay it forward to the next generation of performers.<\/p>\n
UT San Antonio faculty Bradley Freeman Jr. coaches dramatic arts majors Grecia Ortiz, Precious Okolie and Elizabeth Cabrera during \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors auditions.\u201d (UT San Antonio)<\/p>\n
Freeman is also providing his expertise as the director for the new Dramatic Arts program\u2019s first performance: \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors,\u201d which will run from April 9-26 at Buena Vista Theatre.<\/p>\n
As a leader in the new program, Freeman hopes its performances will help uplift all performing arts in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 It\u2019s time to play the music. It\u2019s time to light the lights. Disney is getting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46559,2777,14489,82,84,83,34204,3549],"class_list":{"0":"post-101889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-bradley-freeman-jr","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ksat-team","11":"tag-san-antonio","12":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","13":"tag-san-antonio-news","14":"tag-the-muppets","15":"tag-university-of-texas-at-san-antonio"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}