''Elmo: The Musical'' is a musical ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'' segment that began airing in Season 43. It appears in every episode until Season 46, where it alternated with ''

Elmo's World ''Elmo's World'' is a segment that is shown at the end of the long-running American children's television program ''Sesame Street'' which premiered on November 16th, 1998, as part of a broader structural change to the show. It originally lasted ...

''. In the segment,

Elmo Elmo is a red Muppet monster character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who has a falsetto voice and illeism, he hosts the last full five-minute segment (fifteen minutes prio ...

teaches math skills while imagining himself in different musical situations, such as "Sea Captain the Musical", "Mountain Climber the Musical", "Prince Elmo the Musical" and "President the Musical". Joining Elmo in his adventures is Velvet, a talking set of curtains, and a series of animal and Anything Muppet friends. The segment's theme song was composed by

Adam Schlesinger Adam Lyons Schlesinger (October 31, 1967 – April 1, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was a key songwriting contribu ...

, while the legal registration ascribes lyrics to six of the ''Elmo: The Musical'' staff writers: Molly Boylan, Annie Evans, Belinda Ward,

Joey Mazzarino Joseph Mazzarino (; born June 4, 1968) is an American actor, puppeteer, writer and director. He is best known for his roles on ''Sesame Street'' as Murray Monster, Stinky the Stinkweed and other Muppets, and being Head Writer and Director on ' ...

, Luis Santeiro, and Christine Ferraro. The song was nominated for the 2013 Daytime Emmy Awards in the "Outstanding Original Song – Children's and Animation" category, along with "I'm the Queen of Nacho Picchu" from the ''Guacamole the Musical'' segment. Interactive game versions of some of the segments appear on the ''Sesame Street'' website. Elements of the segment (including Velvet) appear in the ''

Sesame Street Live ''Sesame Street Live'' is a live touring show based on the children's television show ''Sesame Street'' produced by Feld Entertainment. History The VEE Corporation was started in March 1980 by founder Vincent Egan, who had an idea to produce a l ...

'' show "Can't Stop Singing". Starting in the fall of 2015, segments used in the hour edits of re-run episodes and new additions starting with season 46 now run around 7 minutes long. This was the final ''Sesame Street'' production in which Kevin Clash provided the puppetry and voice of Elmo.

Replacing ''Elmo's World''

Production on the ''

'' segments had ceased in the late 2000s, the last new segment airing as part of the 2009–10 season. The segment was meant to appeal to kids younger than the target age of the show (two years and younger). Executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente was not too pleased with the success it received, as it was targeting an age the show's curriculum was not designed for. The "block format" experiment of season 40 proved to be a ratings hit, attracting more children between the ages of 3–4, leaving the ''Elmo's World'' segment as the youngest-skewing portion of the program, something Parente wished to change even before production halted.

Development

In June 2011,

and the other writers began developing new ideas for the new segment. One idea was to have Elmo go on road trips using his tricycle. Mazzarino stated Elmo's character was all about his excited view of the world and large imagination and they decided to go with an idea based on those characteristics. The idea of a musical segment came around and with the success of musical programs like ''

High School Musical ''High School Musical'' is a 2006 American musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 63rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) and first installment of the ''High School Musical'' film series, th ...

'' and ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'', the writers decided it was a good idea to move forward with.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2012-2013)

Season 2 (2013-2014)

Season 3 (2014)

Season 4 (2016)

Production

Each episode took a day to film; the initial segments were filmed between January and February 2012. All the material was filmed in front of a bluescreen, with the performers dressed in blue to allow characters like Elmo to appear full-bodied. Magnetic Dreams Animation Studio, known for producing other animated segments for the show, provides the CGI elements of the segment, including the backgrounds and animated characters like Velvet. Each episode costs approximately $275,000 to produce.

International

In late 2013, the segments began airing on ABC KIDS in Australia and well as in Germany on

KI.KA KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF'' ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...

as a separate mini-series. In 2014, the segments began airing in Dutch language, Dutch as part of the Sesamstraat mini-series, ''10 voor''.

Cast

Kevin Clash Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer, director and producer known for puppeteering Elmo on ''Sesame Street'' from 1984 to 2012. He also performed puppets for ''Labyrinth'', '' Dinosaurs'', '' Oobi'', and various ...

(as Elmo, seasons 43–44) *

Ryan Dillon Ryan Dillon (born May 25, 1988) is an American puppeteer who has worked as an ensemble muppeteer for the Jim Henson Company since 2005. He also played Cooper and Paul Ball for the interactive series Sesame Street TV for Xbox Kinect, and appear ...

(as Elmo, season 45–46) *

Pam Arciero Pamela Arciero (born May 8, 1954) is an American puppeteer and voice-over artist. She has performed for ''Between the Lions'' and ''Sesame Street'', playing Oscar the Grouch's girlfriend Grundgetta in the latter. In addition to performance wor ...

Jennifer Barnhart Jennifer Barnhart (born March 11, 1972) is an American actress and puppeteer, with a portfolio of television and theatre performances.Fran Brill Fran Brill (born September 30, 1946) is an American retired actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on ''Sesame Street'', as well as playing Sally Hayes in the Hal Ashby film ''Being There'' (1979), Dana Mardukas in the Martin Brest film ...

Tyler Bunch Tyler Bunch, also known as H.D. Quinn, is an American puppeteer, puppet designer, director, and actor. Career In addition to his work for the Jim Henson Company, Bunch has created and performed puppets for PBS, Nickelodeon and Disney's Th ...

Leslie Carrara-Rudolph Leslie Carrara, sometimes credited as Leslie Carrara-Rudolph or the misspelling Leslie Carrera-Rudolph, is an American actress, performer, puppeteer, speaker, singer and artist. She is probably best known as a Muppet performer on ''Sesame Street' ...

(as Velvet and various others) *

Stephanie D'Abruzzo Stephanie Ann D'Abruzzo (; born December 7, 1971) is an American actress, puppeteer and singer. She has performed various Muppets in the TV program ''Sesame Street''. She held starring roles on '' Oobi'' and ''The Book of Pooh''. She was one of ...

Eric Jacobson Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''Sesame Street'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all role ...

* John Kennedy *

Tim Lagasse Tim Lagasse (born 1968/1969) is an American director, puppeteer and puppet designer. He has worked on films and television programs for Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and HBO. He is known for playing the title character on Noggin's '' ...

Peter Linz Peter Linz (born June 28, 1967) is an American puppeteer. His most prominent role is being the performer for the character Walter who was introduced in the 2011 feature film ''The Muppets''. Since 1991, Linz has performed on ''Sesame Street'', ...

* Jim Martin *

Paul McGinnis Paul McGinnis (born 1973) is an American puppeteer for ''Sesame Street'' and The Muppets. He has also performed in various non-Muppet television productions such as ''The Book of Pooh'', ''Julie's Greenroom'', ''The Wiz Live!'', '' Crash & Bernste ...

Carmen Osbahr Carmen Osbahr-Vertiz (born April 21, 1962) is a Mexican-born American puppeteer, singer and voice actress who has performed Rosita in the popular hit children's series ''Sesame Street'', since 1991. Osbahr has also performed Kiki Flores in '' T ...

* Martin P. Robinson *

David Rudman David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and ''Sesame Street''. Career David Rudman has been a ''Sesame Street'' Muppet performer sinc ...

Caroll Spinney Caroll Edwin Spinney (December 26, 1933 – December 8, 2019) was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on ''Sesame Street'' from its inception in 1969 until 2018. E ...

John Tartaglia John Nicholas Tartaglia (; born February 16, 1978) is an American actor, singer, and puppeteer. Early life Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in 19 ...

* Matt Vogel *

Steve Whitmire Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on ''The Muppets'' and ''Sesame Street''. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire inherited the roles of Ernie and Kerm ...

Sources

Stephanie D'Abruzzo's official website
''The New York Times''. September 13, 2012.
'Sesame Street' Has Best Ratings Since 2007
Huffingtonpost.com. May 25, 2012

References

{{Sesame Street, state=uncollapsed Sesame Street segments Sesame Street 2012 American television series debuts 2010s American children's comedy television series 2020s American children's comedy television series 2010s American musical comedy television series 2020s American musical comedy television series 2010s preschool education television series 2020s preschool education television series American children's musical television series American preschool education television series American television shows featuring puppetry Television series about children