Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years is the home video version of Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration commemorating Sesame Street’s 25th anniversary. The home video was originally released on October 29, 1993, under the title Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration!.
The broadcast and home video versions have the same linking footage but different clips. Sesame Street Jam focused on celebrity segments, many coming from segments filmed for the 25th season; A Musical Celebration replaced most of these segments with classic Sesame Street songs. However, they both end with the cast and Ladysmith Black Mambazo performing "Sing."
The video features a few scenes, segueing to specific clips, that are exclusive from the broadcast version. One example occurs when Savion points out to Telly Monster and Prairie Dawn that there are dancers everywhere. On the broadcast version, Telly adds "and pigs, too," leading to "A New Way to Walk," but on the video release, after Savion says that there are dancers everywhere, Elmo appears and says "And cute, little, red, furry monsters too!" leading to "Happy Tapping with Elmo."
| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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TITLE CARD | The title of the home video is introduced in voice-over as "Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration." |
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FRAME 1 | Everyone enjoys a day in the park as the calypso version of the Sesame Street Theme plays. |
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FRAME 1 cont'd | Big Bird, Prairie Dawn, and Telly watch as everyone expresses themselves with music, dance, and other talents. Big Bird is reminded of a quote his Granny Bird told him, "The whole world is a stage." Prairie gets the idea to put on a show, thinking they should look for dancers, musicians, and singers; Big Bird thinks they could also use some "la-la"-ers. Telly isn't so sure about it, but Prairie assures them that their search will be an adventure! |
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Song | En Vogue sings "Adventure." (First: Episode 2951) |
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FRAME 2 | They split up their duties - Telly and Prairie will look for dancers, musicians, and singers while Big Bird looks for "la-la"-ers. Prairie's surprised to see Big Bird take such a small role, but he tells her it's not as easy as it sounds. |
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FRAME 2 cont'd | Telly and Prairie come across Jamal, Angela, Celina, Carlo, the kids, and other Muppets singing an acapella version of "Do-Op Hop" at a hot dog cart. They've found their singers for the show! |
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FRAME 2 cont'd | Big Bird has formed a "LA LA LINE" to audition la-la-ers. After a failed audition by Humphrey and Natasha, the Count steps up, not wanting to la-la, but to count those in line. Big Bird thinks his day will drive him batty, cueing the next song... |
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Muppets | The Count sings "The Batty Bat." (First: Episode 2096) |
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FRAME 3 | The Count swoops in, counting "One wonderful song!" |
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Cartoon | The Alligator King Artist: Bud Luckey (First: Episode 0411) The last line, "Seven," is cut. |
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FRAME 3 cont'd | The Count counts "Two wonderful songs!" |
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Muppets | Oscar sings "I Love Trash." (First: Episode 2785) Introduction cut/new sound effect added at the end |
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FRAME 3 cont'd | The Count counts "Three wonderful songs!" |
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Muppets | Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats sing "Count it Higher." (First: Episode 0553) |
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FRAME 4 | Big Bird's next audition is with a very noisy duck. The duck happens to belong to the Amazing Mumford, who knows a spell that will make everyone la-la, although when he tries it, the spell instead makes everyone in the line quack! Mumford quips that with all those quackers, Big Bird should change his show to a "duck-umentary." |
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Muppets | A montage of songs about Rubber Duckie, including "Rubber Duckie," "The Honker-Duckie-Dinger Jamboree," "Put Down the Duckie," and "Do De Rubber Duck." |
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FRAME 5 | Mumford tries his trick again, but makes people "baa-baa" like sheep. (Mumford: "Right vowel, wrong consonant.") |
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FRAME 5 cont'd | Telly and Prairie now find a jam session going on, which includes men banging on barrels with drumsticks, Hoots the Owl on his saxophone, Ernie squeezing his Rubber Duckie, and a Honker and Dinger trio; they think they're the perfect musicians for the show. Elmo, playing one of the drums, comments that playing it is almost as easy as "A-B-C." |
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Muppets | Cookie Monster sings "C is for Cookie." (First: Episode 0372) |
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Muppets | Grover sings "Monster in the Mirror." (First: Episode 2689) |
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FRAME 6 | Telly and Prairie ask Big Bird if he'd like to help them find dancers, but he's busy with his line. The next auditions don't do well, and Big Bird remarks he'll go bananas. Joey and Davey Monkey pop up at the mention of "bananas," and start chittering like mad. Big Bird gripes "What's next here? Aardvarks?!" |
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Song | Joe Raposo sings "I'm an Aardvark." Re-filmed version (First: Episode 2520) |
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FRAME 7 | Herry appears to say that he's not an aardvark and proud to be a fuzzy, blue monster. |
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Muppets | Grover, Herry, and Cookie Monster sing "Fuzzy and Blue (and Orange)." (First: Episode 1644) Cuts off before Frazzle appears; new sound effects added |
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Song | Kevin Clash sings "Skin." (First: Episode 2749) |
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Muppets | Kermit sings "Bein' Green." (First: Episode 0087) |
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FRAME 8 | Prairie and Telly run into Jason and Savion while looking for dancers. Savion tells them that there are dancers everywhere in the park. Prairie comments at all the people dancing. |
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FRAME 8 cont'd | Elmo pops up to add "And cute, little, red, furry monsters too!" |
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Muppets | "Happy Tappin' with Elmo" Introduction and closing cut (First: Episode 2832) |
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Transition | Footage of Baby Tooth and the Fuzzy Funk slides across the screen. |
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Muppets | Bert sings "Doin' the Pigeon." (intro verses removed) (First: Episode 0536) |
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Transition | Footage of Baby Tooth and the Fuzzy Funk slides across the screen again. |
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Muppets | Ernie sings "Dance Myself to Sleep." (First: Episode 1705) |
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Muppets | Baby Tooth and the Fuzzy Funk - "Feel the Beat" (First: Episode 2943) Part 1 only |
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FRAME 9 | Big Bird shows Telly and Prairie Dawn the la-la-ers he's chosen - The Martians! He tells them they're going to become stars, causing the Martians to consult their book before vanishing for the real stars in space. Big Bird shouts, "Hey, wait up! Maybe you can drop me off on the moon!" |
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Muppets | At night, Ernie sings "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon." (First: Episode 1910) Introduction cut |
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FRAME 10 | The next la-la-ers in Big Bird's line are a man who plays "Lady of Spain" on the accordion while a chicken clucks along. Big Bird begins to lose hope. |
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Muppets | "We Are All Earthlings" (First: Episode 2835) |
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FRAME 11 | Big Bird's line is now empty. Mumford tries his trick again having figured out what was going wrong, but no one's around to be entranced by it. |
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FRAME 11 cont'd | Big Bird slinks over to a bench and mopes, then remembers an old saying: "Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear..." He begins singing "Sing" to himself... when out of nowhere, Ladysmith Black Mambazo immediately answers with a chorus of la-las, exactly what Big Bird's been searching for! Mumford tries his trick again, summoning all of Big Bird's friends to sing with him in a grand finale. |
Releases[]
DVD1997
Sony Wonder
LVD 51319
Sony Wonder
LVD 51319
USB drive2010
ATP
ATP
Australia (VHS)1994
Golden Press Video
Golden Press Video
Australia (VHS)2005
ABC Video for Kids
ABC Video for Kids
Singapore and Malaysia (VCD)2000
Berjaya HVN
cat. no 912003
Berjaya HVN
cat. no 912003
Notes[]
- The special was taped in June of 1993.[1] Although some of the human characters introduced in Season 25 are featured, none of the Muppet characters created for the season appear in the special.
- Incidental characters were played by Noel MacNeal as the cow in the sixth scene and Pam Arciero as the chicken in the tenth scene.
Cast[]
Muppets:
- Big Bird, Telly Monster, Prairie Dawn, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Herry Monster, The Amazing Mumford, Davey Monkey, Joey Monkey, Count von Count, Merry Monster, Humphrey Monster, Baby Natasha, the Martians, Mumford's duck
Background Muppets:
- Oscar the Grouch, Ernie, Bert, Forgetful Jones, Buster the Horse, Roxie Marie, Kingston Livingston III, The Oinker Sisters, Hoots the Owl, Madame Chairbird, Two-Headed Monster, Polly Darton, Mr. Honker, Dinger, Henrietta Honker, Kathleen the Cow, Leo Birdelli, Rosita, Rocky, Barkley, Penguins, Chickens, Ducks
Human Cast:
- Caroll Spinney, Martin P. Robinson, Fran Brill, Jerry Nelson, Kevin Clash, David Rudman, Joe Mazzarino, Pam Arciero, James Kroupa, Noel MacNeal, Jim Martin, Bryant Young, Frank Oz (Uncredited: Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Alice Dinnean, Michael Paul[2])
- Carlo Alban (uncredited), Alison Bartlett, Annette Calud, Savion Glover, Angel Jemmot, Sonia Manzano, Bob McGrath, Jou Jou Papailler
Credits[]
- Producer: Arlene Sherman
- Writer: Luis Santeiro
- Segment Writers: Sara Compton, Judy Freudberg, Jeff Moss, Norman Stiles
- Director: Mustapha Khan
- Segment Director: Jon Stone
- Musical Director: Robby Merkin
- Songs by: Christopher Cerf, Sara Compton, Stephen Lawrence, Jeff Moss, Joe Raposo, Norman Stiles
- Production Designer: Victor DiNapoli
- Muppets, Costumes, and Props supervised by: Ed Christie
- Puppet Captain: Kevin Clash
- Associate Producer: Karin Young Shiel
- Special Thanks to: Sharon Lerner, Marjorie Kalins, Frieda Lipp