‘Jim Henson’s Labyrinth’ goes live with interactive concert

Goblin King, meet Frank N. Furter.

As CEO of Black Ink Presents, a company that has toured live music with films such as “Ghostbusters,” “The Goonies” and “Love Actually,” John Kinsner wanted to create more of an interactive experience, something like what was done with “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

He found the movie with “Jim Henson’s Labyrinth,” a fantasy-sci-fi saga that featured not only the work of the Muppets creator, but of rock icon David Bowie.

“In some way, I always imagined ‘Labyrinth’ could be a similar type experience, where people could come in costume and cheer for people on screen,” he said in a phone interview. “I just couldn’t get the idea out of my head that this could be cool with a synth-pop-rock band, and really kind of creatively tailoring it more for theaters and presenting it in almost a ‘Rocky Horror’-style fashion.”

With a six-piece band – three synthesizers (one player also on saxophone), a drummer, guitarist and bassist – Kinsner took “Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: In Concert” on the road for 35 dates last fall, and resumed the tour in mid-March, stopping Sunday night at The Cotillion in Wichita.

The response, he said, has been beyond his expectations.

“One of the most joyful things about this, my favorite part of the entire experience, is seeing people come out and celebrate it,” Kinsner said. “They sit in their seats and go line-for-line with the characters and they’re singing the songs, they’re dancing.”

Seeing the movie with live music, he said, gives audiences something they won’t get from staying home and streaming the 1986 movie.

“David Bowie never performed any of these songs live. Most of the people who have seen this movie have never heard the music on anything other than their television speakers,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to come out amongst like-minded friends and celebrate it together with extended family and really get your moment in the sun as a fan to see it on a big screen and have a band doing the music live.”

Audiences, to his surprise, have been 65-70% female, despite sci-fi and fantasy movies largely skewing to a male audience.

“You really start to understand this is really a coming-of-age film and a coming-of-age story led by 14-year-old Jennifer Connelly, who’s struggling with these teen problems in the story,” Kinsner said.

Many of the audience members dress as Connelly’s character, Sarah, in the ball scene, Kinsner said.

Kinsner, a Colorado native, has offices on the Sony Entertainment lot in Hollywood, and the studio’s movies are usually his first choice to produce with a live band, he said.

His next project, due out this fall, is a concert version of the original 1981 horror flick “Evil Dead.”

“There’s a lot of fun stuff in that universe,” he said.

‘JIM HENSON’S LABYRINTH: IN CONCERT’

When: 8 p.m. Sunday, April 13

Where: The Cotillion, 11120 W. Kellogg

Tickets: $29.50 to $125, from thecotillion.com or 316-722-4201