Elmo: The Musical
Elmo: The Musical is a Sesame Street segment that began airing in Season 43. It appears in every episode until Season 46, where it alternated with Elmo's World.
| Elmo: The Musical | |
|---|---|
| Opening theme | "Elmo the Musical Theme Song" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 11 minutes |
| Production company | Sesame Workshop |
| Distributor | Sesame Workshop |
| Release | |
| Picture format | 720p & 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Dolby Digital |
| Original release | September 24, 2012 – August 13, 2016 |
In the segment, Elmo 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, while the legal registration ascribes lyrics to six of the "Elmo the Musical" staff writers: Molly Boylan, Annie Evans, Belinda Ward, Joey Mazzarino, 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" 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.
Replacing Elmo's World
Production on the Elmo's World segments had ceased in the late 2000s, the last new segment airing as part of the 2009 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[2], 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, Joey Mazzarino 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 and Glee, the writers decided it was a good idea to move forward with.
Episodes
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 10 | September 24, 2012 | February 14, 2013 | ||
| 2 | 3 | September 16, 2013 | January 16, 2014 | ||
| 3 | 2 | September 17, 2014 | October 6, 2014 | ||
| 4 | 3 | March 26, 2016 | August 13, 2016 | ||
Season 1 (2012-13)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Guacamole the Musical" | September 24, 2012 |
| 2 | 2 | "Athlete the Musical" | September 25, 2012 |
| 3 | 3 | "Sea Captain the Musical" | September 26, 2012 |
| 4 | 4 | "Pizza the Musical" | September 28, 2012 |
| 5 | 5 | "Airplane the Musical" | October 12, 2012 |
| 6 | 6 | "Circus the Musical" | October 19, 2012 |
| 7 | 7 | "President the Musical" | November 6, 2012 |
| 8 | 8 | "Cowboy the Musical" | November 21, 2012 |
| 9 | 9 | "Prince Elmo the Musical" | February 4, 2013 |
| 10 | 10 | "Detective the Musical" | February 14, 2013 |
Season 2 (2013-2014)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Bird the Musical" | September 16, 2013 |
| 12 | 2 | "Repair Monster the Musical" | October 24, 2013 |
| 13 | 3 | "Mountain Climber the Musical" | January 16, 2014 |
Season 3 (2014)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "Karate Master the Musical" | September 17, 2014 |
| 15 | 2 | "Tomato the Musical" | October 6, 2014 |
Season 4 (2016)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 1 | "Superhero the Musical" | March 26, 2016 |
| 17 | 2 | "Iguana the Musical" | July 16, 2016 |
| 18 | 3 | "Beach the Musical" | August 13, 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 as a separate mini-series. In 2014, the segments began airing in Dutch as part of the Sesamstraat mini-series, 10 voor.
Cast
- Kevin Clash (as Elmo, seasons 43–44)
- Ryan Dillon (as Elmo, season 45–46)
- Pam Arciero
- Jennifer Barnhart
- Fran Brill
- Tyler Bunch
- Leslie Carrara-Rudolph (as Velvet and various others)
- Stephanie D'Abruzzo
- Eric Jacobson
- John Kennedy
- Tim Lagasse
- Peter Linz
- Jim Martin
- Joey Mazzarino
- Paul McGinnis
- Carmen Osbahr
- Martin P. Robinson
- David Rudman
- Caroll Spinney
- John Tartaglia
- Matt Vogel
- Steve Whitmire
Sources
- Stephanie D'Abruzzo's official website
- "Sesame Street Adds 'Elmo the Musical'". The New York Times. September 13, 2012.
- 'Sesame Street' Has Best Ratings Since 2007. Huffingtonpost.com. May 25, 2012