Sesame Street Pageants
From Muppet Wiki
A series of short plays directed by Prairie Dawn were performed by her friends, with Prairie Dawn often accompanying them on the piano.
Contents |
Pageant sketches | |||
| Picture | Title | Earliest Known Appearance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
 | A Flower Grows | Episode 0666 | Ernie plays the role of Bart, a farm boy who plants a flower. Herry Monster plays the sun, and a nervous Cookie Monster plays a cloud. Bert reluctantly plays the flower. When it is said that Bert made the leaves for his costume out of lettuce leaves, Cookie and Herry proceed to eat the leaves and rip the costume apart. |
 | Let's Make a Face | Episode 0711 | Prairie directs the cast in a pageant about the face. Ernie talks about eyes, Cookie Monster talks about the mouth, Bert and Grover talk about ears, and Herry Monster talks about the nose. At the end of the pageant, they assemble a picture of a face.
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 | She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain | Episode 0892 | Cookie Monster, playing the heroine in this year's pageant, can't seem to grasp the concept of going "around" something (he instead goes over, under, and through) until Prairie gets an idea and lures him with a cookie. |
 | Feelings | Episode 1736 | Prairie Dawn presents a pageant about feelings. Bert dresses as Cupid to represent love -- but his lines don't ring true. Instead, he sings his own song, "That's Love". He sings that to him, love means pigeons, oatmeal, his little nephew Brad -- and even his best friend Ernie. After the song, Bert complains about his costume and how he is always humiliated in many pageants. Ernie points out to the viewers that "He should have been Angry." |
 | The Life of a Butterfly | Episode 2073 | A little girl plays piano in Prairie Dawn's place, with Ernie as a stage hand. Two AM kids play some eggs on a stick, Bert plays the caterpillar who hatches from an egg, and Herry Monster sprouts out as the butterfly. |
 | Food We Eat | Episode 2293 | Prairie Dawn plays the piano for a pageant about food. Elmo plays an asparagus (a role that would, decades later, be performed by Telly). Herry Monster is stuck in a fish costume that's "three sizes too small" and was made by his mom. Leo the Party Monster portrays a potato (mentioning that potato chips make a great party food). Telly, in the role of milk, carries a full pitcher of milk on his head and is concerned about spilling it. When he proudly concludes he managed to say his lines without making a mess, Herry tells him to take a bow... and gets the milk all over Prairie's hair! |
 | Tooth | The cast demonstrates how to keep your teeth clean. Bert plays the role of the tooth. Herry Monster is a germ (complete with black coat and moustache). Ernie and Grover come to the rescue in the roles of the toothpaste and toothbrush. Cookie Monster enters the stage with a bucket in his hands, demonstrating how to rinse afterwards. Luckily, when he throws the contents over Bert, the bucket turns out to be filled with confetti. | |
 | The Four Seasons | Grover plays stage manager (and prop man) for Prairie's play, though he keeps making mistakes and eventually falls from the rafters. Bert presents a snowman for winter, while Herry, with a flower pot, explains spring. Ernie, wearing sunglasses and wielding a beach ball, represents summer, and Cookie Monster wears a (delicious) tree costume for fall.
| |
 | How a seed grows | In a play similar to the earlier flower pageant, Gladys the Cow stars as a seed. Ernie plays the rain and Herry Monster the sun, whose attentions cause the seed to bloom into a flower. | |
 | Growing Vegetables | In this pageant which is set in the garden section of Sesame Street everyone gathers around for the "Growing A Vegetable." Elmo comes out dressed as a radish, Big Bird dressed as corn with the husk on. Then Snuffy comes out dressed as his favorite vegetable, a cabbage. | |
| | Milk | This pageant shows where milk comes from, with Elmo, the Big Bad Wolf and a Little Pig as three different sized quarts of milk, Gladys as the cow, and Herry Monster as the grass. | |
Featured pageants | |||
 | "The Night Before Christmas" | A Muppet Family Christmas | Ernie narrates the pageant, with Rowlf the Dog on piano. Bert reluctantly plays Mama, Grover plays a mouse, The Two-Headed Monster plays Santa Claus, and various monsters play reindeer. |
| | Best Friends | Episode 3810 | Prairie Dawn decides to direct a best friends pageant, but all of the best friends on Sesame Street start arguing with each other. |
 | Little Red Riding Hood and the Oat Bran Cookies | Episode 3989 | |
 | Healthy Food | Episode 4122 | Prairie Dawn decides to put on a "Healthy Food Pageant." Prairie plays the piano while everyone else dresses up like different foods and sings about the foods' health benefits. Zoe sings about potatoes and Rosita sings about tortillas. Telly is just about to go on as an asparagus, but he just isn't feeling the part as he has never tasted an asparagus. Another problem arises right before Elmo is about to make his broccoli debut - he can't find his costume! |
 | The Nativity | Elmo's World: Happy Holidays | A pageant of the Nativity story is presented by Prairie Dawn and the Sesame Street cast. In the pageant, Natasha plays baby Jesus, with Bert as Joseph, Rosita as Mary, Zoe as an angel, and Herry, Grover and Cookie Monster as the Three Kings. |
| | Tim Robbins performs the seasons in Prairie Dawn's pageant. | ||
Pageants in other media | |||
 | A Christmas Pageant | Merry Christmas from Sesame Street | In this audio skit, everyone votes for Bert to play a Christmas tree in Prairie Dawn's Christmas pageant. |
 | "The Little Red Hen" | The Little Red Hen | Bert stars as the hen, with Herry Monster (the pig), Ernie (the dog), and Cookie Monster (the cow). |
 | The Sesame Street Weather Play | Don't Be Shy | Snuffy is cast as the Sun, but is initially too shy to come out. Also in the cast are Bert as Snow, Ernie as Rain, and Cookie Monster as Wind. |
| | Thanksgiving pageant | The Sesame Street People in Your Neighborhood 1991 Calendar | Prairie Dawn presents a Thanksgiving play for the month of November. |
 | Feelings pageant | Happy and Sad, Grouchy and Glad | Prairie Dawn presents a pageant about feelings, with participation from Grover, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, the Amazing Mumford, Elmo, Telly Monster, and Shelley the Turtle, amongst others. The majority of this pageant did not involve costumes. |
 | Job pageant | When I Grow Up | In this Sesame Street Live show, the entire play is presented as a pageant, with the characters portraying their ideal occupation. |
