At Friendsgiving this year, as we all took shifts in the kitchen furiously finishing our dishes, my friend Blake put Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular on the TV to distract us from our delayed dinner. At first I laughed at the diversion, but over the course of the hour-long ABC special, I found myself spellbound. This year marks a decade since the endearing, star-studded, and deeply chic musical program debuted, and I humbly nominate it as a new holiday classic.
Gaga is something of an expert at hosting wintry specials; in 2011 she performed A Very Gaga Thanksgiving, a much more sober affair featuring Katie Couric and Tony Bennett. Coinciding with her third studio album, the critically underrated Artpop, Gaga opted to take her next holiday special in a different direction. If kicking off the show with a synth-pop-fueled Muppet dance party to “Venus” isn’t exactly traditional holiday-special fare, it immediately lets the viewer know that they’re in for a ride. Make no mistake, the show that follows is a wholesome romp with a little something for everybody, be it music, fashion, or puppetry. The best part of all? It’s easily accessible: The whole thing is available on YouTube.
Although the Muppets make excellent costars (Miss Piggy even performs a rousing rendition of “Santa Baby”), Gaga also calls in some famous friends, including Kristen Bell, RuPaul, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Sir Elton John. While Gordon-Levitt helps her keep up the holiday spirit with a sweet duet of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” Sir Elton teams up with Gaga to bang out “Bennie and the Jets” on the piano. But those who grew up enjoying the Muppets’ holiday specials can rest assured that she is a generous host, sharing plenty of screen time with her fuzzy castmates.
Her fantastic fashions are also something to admire. Lady Gaga starts the show in a custom Swarovski-covered clamshell bra from Maggie Barry, and every last detail—down to her Dsquared2 dressing gown—is perfectly in line with the over-the-top production. In her performance of “Applause,” the album’s breakout hit, Gaga wears a glittering silver number: a Swarovski-studded jumpsuit and a Versace skirt with a glittering collar by Erickson Beamon snaking around her neck. Even in her more explicitly holiday-themed moments—like during her duet with Gordon-Levitt—she goes all out, wearing a slinky red Alaïa bodysuit with a sheer floor-length skirt to match. But of course the event would not be complete without at least one positively Muppet-esque look: An Adrienne Landau jacket, feathery Philip Treacy hat, and custom A-Morir sunglasses are a hot pink delight.
With a mixture of classic holiday songs, more contemporary hits, and Artpop earworms—not to mention jaw-dropping clothes, exciting guest stars, and lots of classic Muppet adventures—I venture that Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular makes for ideal holiday viewing. Consider queuing it up as your favorite new tradition—it is in my book, anyway.
