Sesamstraat is Jarig (1985)

This soundtrack album for Sesamstraat, the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street, was released by WSP in 1985.

"Sesamstraat Is Jarig" (It's Sesamstraat's Birthday) was released in honour of Sesamstraat's tenth anniversary. Besides the celebrating storyline, the album featured the best songs from recent seasons. It was also available on cassette.

Tracklist
Side A:
 * 'n Kuiken Is Geen Kip (A Chick Is Not A Chicken)
 * Visje (Fishie)
 * Schommel (Swing)
 * Speeltuin (Playground)
 * Bloot In De Boot (Naked In The Boat)
 * Rijm (Rhyme)
 * Lepel (Spoon)
 * Als Ik Later Groot Ben (When I Grow Up)

Side B:
 * Sesamstraat Is Jarig (It's Sesamstraat's Birthday)
 * M'n Vader (My Father)
 * Poesje (Kitty)
 * Prijs (Prize)
 * In Bad (Taking A Bath)
 * Taksi
 * Bal (Ball)
 * Feest (Party)
 * Vergrootglas (Magnifying Glass)
 * Mug (Musquieto)

Cast

 * Sien Diels as Sien
 * Lejo Dijkgraaf as Pino
 * Lex Goudsmit as Lex
 * Frank Groothof as Frank
 * Gerda Havertong as Gerda
 * Rudi Kuhn as Rudi
 * Gerard Kuster as Gerard
 * Bert Plagman as Tommie
 * Esther Prins as Esther
 * Aart Staartjes as Aart
 * Catherine van Woerden as Ieniemienie

Album Summary
Sesamstraat celebrates its birthday! There's a parade in the street, kids everywhere, and even an airplane with a flag "Long Live Sesamstraat". Frank interviews Reporter Tommie, who is on location to witness the arrival of the Sesamstraat cast. But after a while, Tommie gets worried: he would love to join the party, but he has to stay outside for his reporting duties! Luckily, there's still enough cake and lemonade left when Tommie and Frank finally join the party for a big singalong session.

Trivia

 * Although released as a tenth anniversary album, this album was originally based on a TV special celebrating the 2500th episode in 1984. There were a few minor differences in the script, including the role of Gerda: in the TV special, she made her debut as a cameo character. By the time this record album was produced, she was a part of the regular cast. The album also features a few different songs.


 * All songs are from regular Sesamstraat episodes from the mid-80's, except "Sesamstraat Is Jarig", which was written as the finale number for the anniversary special.


 * This is the only specially recorded album featuring (almost) the entire cast together. Esther Prins, Rudi Kuhn and Gerard Kuster left the show in 1988. Lex Goudsmit passed away in 1999. Gerard is not credited on the album: he sings the song "Rijm", but is strangely referred to as Frank (Groothof). Paula was a main character at the time, but she was strangely absent from both the album and the TV special.


 * Pino is still performed by Lejo Dijkgraaf; in 1990, Lejo would pass the role on to Renee Menschaar.


 * A cat named Dikkie Dik appears on the record album. He is a children's book character, created by Jet Boeke. Dikkie Dik picture stories are often featured on Sesamstraat: the actors would read them to children visiting the set. On the album, he is mentioned as an actual cat: on the show, he only appeared on the street once (as an animated character) when Jet Boeke visited the street.