Kermit as Elphaba? Emerson Alum Turns ‘Wicked’ Into Muppet Magic

While Wicked dominated the box office last fall, Ricky Downes III ’15 couldn’t help but ask a very different question: What would the musical sound like if it were performed by… the Muppets?

For this voice actor, comedian, puppeteer, and Bronx Zoo tour guide, the answer became a YouTube hit. Downes crossed Kermit and company with the hit musical to create a parody that has charmed Muppet fans, theatre lovers, and the algorithm alike.

This isn’t Downes’ first time reimagining a pop-culture phenomenon. He previously parodied The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 2023, and his 2020 Muppets/Hamilton mash-up (Act I and Act II) has earned more than 2.5 million views on YouTube.

A Wicked Undertaking

Recreating Wicked was no easy feat. Downes worked on the video whenever he could—before and after work, on breaks, and throughout his days off between auditions.

“I voiced everybody,” said Downes. “I’m listening to the music on my headphones and matching it to the album recording. There was a lot of mixing and editing.”

Although breaking typecasting, for Downes, casting Kermit the Frog as Elphaba made perfect sense. “Who else knows what it’s like to be green?” he joked. “He gets frustrated when things don’t go great. Elphaba is the outsider. Kermit is the straight man trying to keep balance together, he’s not Oz-stracized as Elphaba is, but there is a distance he has with [the rest of the Muppets].”

The rest of the cast was then easy to cast: Miss Piggy as Glinda the Good Witch, The Great Gonzo as Boq, and Rowlf the Dog as The Cowardly Lion.  

A Man of Many Voices and Talents

Downes’ talent extends far beyond parody. He has voiced numerous commercials, performs stand-up comedy, is a tour guide/puppeteer for the Bronx Zoo, and curates, hosts, and performs The Duck Show, a monthly show at the People’s Improv Theater in New York City.

Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the Muppets are just some of the more than 200 characters Downes easily slips into, including Doc Brown from Back to the Future, Jar Jar Binks and Yoda from Star Wars, Looney Tunes and other characters. Downes estimates that he can imitate more than 200 voices.

He discovered his imitative skills at a young age, doing impressions of Harry Potter and Professor Snape, The Lion King cast, and of course, the Muppets, while playing with his brother.

He also started making puppets when he was in middle school, when he and his grandmother would make figures together. At the Bronx Zoo, Downes also gets to create puppets to entertain people young and old.   

Finding His Voice at Emerson

Downes’ acting and puppetry skills really took off at Emerson. He made puppets of The Lion King characters like Scar, Zazu, Mufasa, and the hyenas – and performed the musical as a one-man show in 2013 at Emerson and after college.

“Emerson is really what laid the foundation for who I am as a performer. Through extracurriculars I found my passion for comedy,” said Downes. “My experience in screenwriting has fueled my voice acting career. I don’t think I’d be as good as a voice actor or comedian if I didn’t take screenwriting courses.”

At Emerson, Downes was president of the Sweet Tooth Animation club, which organized Emerson’s first animation film festival. He was also one of the founding members of the sketch comedy group A Goose Troupe. And for four years on the Emerson Channel comedy show Breaking News, he was a character correspondent, doing imitations of celebrities and more. He also created his own web series.

The Work Behind the Voice

Whether it’s performing Mufasa’s deep commanding voice, the sinister Scar, his own bat character at the Bronx Zoo, or his biggest role to date- he was the voice and puppeteer of Paddington in an an off-Broadway touring production of Paddington Gets in a Jam– Downes knows the importance of taking care of his voice. He swears by green tea and natural honey to stay healthy.

“With these characters, it’s knowing about my voice, and who I can do more of without hurting my voice,” said Downes. “Miss Piggy is easy to do. But I try to minimize being Animal because he’s gravelly.”

Today, as his Wicked parody is quickly earning praise, he reflects on why he does what he does.

“It reminds me of the importance of real human art. That passion and creativity and the desire to see something, that as silly and inane as it is, will win,” said Downes. “I think there’s a value to that.”