Sesame Street Live!

'Sesame Street Live! 'was a tetralogy of live stage shows occurring between late winter and early fall 2021. The first show took place at Madison Square Garden from Feb. 20-21, the second show was at Staples Center from May 12-13, the third was at Wembley Arena from Jul. 23-24, and the fourth at Rogers Centre from Sept. 15-16.

Ernie and Bert are the hosts of a two-hour variety show (directed by Prairie Dawn with assistant Trevor Monster) featuring their Sesame Street friends, as they desperately try to salvage the show amid shortcomings and last-minute changes. Unlike other Sesame Street live shows, these shows utilized the official puppets used on the show itself rather than walk-around costume versions. The puppeteers, clad in black, are completely exposed to the audience, while two large screens loom over both sides of the stage, both of which frame only the Muppet characters.

In addition, celebrities make cameos throughout the show (who vary from show to show), including Jason Isaacs, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bobby Moynihan, Neil Patrick Harris, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, Rosie O'Donnell, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, John Ratzenberger, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Trejo, The Wiggles (Greg Page, Murray Cook, Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field) and Friends, Paul Williams, Hayden Christensen, Randy Rainbow, Ryan Reynolds (reprising his role as Deadpool), and Mark Hamill as the voice of the Joker.

Highlights
Ernie, Bert, and others sing a medley comprised of: "Somebody Come and Play", "Sesame Street Theme", "Rubber Duckie", "Doin' the Pigeon", "C is for Cookie", "ABC-DEF-GHI", "Song of the Count", and "Welcome!"

Ernie explains the history of Sesame Street, including its co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney, the influence of Jim Henson and his Muppets, the importance of music on the show, and the topics it has tackled over the years, from healthy habits and social skills to emergencies and death.

Ernie spotlights the numerous co-productions of Sesame Street from around the world, including Mexico, Germany, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Israel, Egypt, India, Spain, France, Brazil, China, Japan, Bangladesh, Russia, South Africa, Canada, Indonesia, Palestine, Portugal, Norway, Turkey, Poland, Northern Ireland, and Britain (The Furchester Hotel).

Oscar the Grouch sings "I Love Trash", while some other Grouches present the trash mentioned in the song.

Zoe leads some monster friends and the audience in a performance of "A Very Simple Dance".

Ernie, clad in his pajamas, sings and tap dances to "Dance Myself to Sleep" with some Muppet sheep while playing his bugle, even inviting Prairie Dawn to dance with him. She's initially reluctant to, but after a quick costume change and Ernie offering her dancing advice such as "Let your feet feel the beat and your body does the rest," Prairie gets so caught up in the dancing that she continues even after Ernie heads for bed. The scene was executed in front of a black background, with six puppeteers, three for each Muppet, dressed all in black and invisible to the camera.

In Ernie's dream, he sings "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" with songwriter Christopher Cerf (MSG), Billie Eilish (Staples), Celine Dion (Wembley), and Randy Rainbow (Rogers).

In Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck, Cookie Monster and Chef Gonger prepare a cheesesteak (MSG), calamari (Staples), haggis (Wembley), and cabbage rolls (Rogers).

The Oinker Sisters lip-sync to the original recording of "A New Way to Walk".

Rosita (MSG, Wembley) or Prairie Dawn (Staples, Rogers) sings "Copacabana" with The Oinker Sisters as backup singers, with Anything Muppets taking on the roles of Lola, Tony and Rico.

Ernie, some backup monster singers, Cookie Monster and Gonger sing a humorous parody of "Bohemian Rhapsody", called "Cookie's Rhapsody". The song is about Cookie as he becomes wrecked with guilt after he eats a flan that was meant for Gonger, with the singers not helping his situation. Near the end, Gonger arrives and tells Cookie he's not angry at him; Gonger doesn't like flan.

In a new installment of "Monsterpiece Theater", Alistair Cookie reviews a trailer for humorous film parodies: a film based on the Super Morphin Mega Monsters (themselves parodies of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise) starring Elmo, Zoe, Telly Monster and Rosita (MSG), Grouch (a parody of the Todd Phillips-directed Joker) starring Oscar (Staples), Star S'mores: The Rise of Piewalker (spoofing Star Wars' ninth film installment) starring an older Luke Piewalker and a new Muppet named Brulee (a parody of the character Rey from the sequel trilogy) (Wembley), and a Sesame interpretation of The Producers starring Oscar as Max Bialystock and Telly as Leo Bloom (Rogers).

A 20-second "Parade of Classic Sesame Street Muppets" which marches by Ernie and Bert. The Muppets in the parade vary from show to show: Roosevelt Franklin, Little Bird, The Amazing Mumford, Farley, Chicago the Lion, Merry Monster, Sherlock Hemlock, Betty Lou, Forgetful Jones, Barkley (MSG); Roosevelt Franklin, Little Bird, Sherlock Hemlock, Betty Lou, Biff, Sully, Harvey Kneeslapper, Don Music, Forgetful Jones, Lefty the Salesman (Staples); Roosevelt Franklin, Little Bird, Placido Flamingo, Sherlock Hemlock, Betty Lou, Little Chrissy, Kingston Livingston III, Wolfgang the Seal, Forgetful Jones, Frazzle (Wembley), Roosevelt Franklin, Little Bird, Humphrey, Ingrid, Sherlock Hemlock, Betty Lou, Baby Natasha, Alice Snuffleupagus, Forgetful Jones, Simon Soundman (Rogers).

Prairie Dawn plays a slower, lower-pitched version of Beethoven's "Fur Elise" on her piano.

The Two-Headed Monster spells out a word and illustrates its meaning (FLY at MSG, RUN at Staples, DUCK at Wembley, and BOOM at Rogers).

Grover performs "Monster in the Mirror" with some other monsters.

Murray Monster makes his triumphant return, and plays "One of These Things" with his old friend Ovejita the lamb.

Ernie invites the viewers (and Bert) to play three rounds of "Guess What's Next", first using household items (to create a shape pattern), fruits and vegetables (to create a color pattern), and finally Muppet animals. The sketch ends with Horatio the Elephant running amok. (This sketch was only featured in the Staples show)

Stunt Monster Grover attempts a dangerous act or unnatural magic trick: cutting through a pineapple on Telly's head while blindfolded (MSG), assisting Prairie Dawn in summoning the Joker (Staples), shooting a laser beam arrow through an apple atop Mr. Johnson's head (Wembley), and using mind powers to reverse time to the first episode of Sesame Street (Rogers).

Ernie and Hoots the Owl perform "Put Down the Duckie".

Backstage, Trevor Monster finds Prairie Dawn in her dressing room, trying to give herself a pedicure (she isn't sure whether to paint her toes ruby red or navy blue), and tells her she's needed at rehearsal; Zoe is leading her monster friends in a water ballet set to a composition from Swan Lake. After finding out that the ballet dancers have left because they can't afford the rights to use the Swan Lake music, Trevor allows Prairie to resume her pedicure; by then, she's decided to use plum purple polish for her nails. (In the Staples and Rogers shows, this takes place shortly before "Copacabana", where she's shown to be barefoot when seen from head to toe during the number)

Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird, and several Muppet animals sing "We Are All Earthlings".

Ernie, the other Sesame Street Muppets and the various guest stars sing "Sing" as the closing number.

For an encore, Ernie, Abby, Elmo, Bert, Prairie Dawn, and the other Sesame Street Muppets and guest stars perform "Just One Person", with Ernie thanking the guest stars before the final verse. After the song, the Muppet performers take their bows, with the main performers receiving a roll call.

Cast
Jennifer Barnhart as Zoe, Maggie Cadabby, Granny Bird

Bill Barretta as Louie (Staples Center only)

Warrick Brownlow-Pike as Gonger

Tyler Bunch as Louie, Ricardo

Leslie Carrara-Rudolph as Abby Cadabby, Rosa

Kevin Clash as Elmo, Hoots the Owl (Staples Center only)

Frankie Cordero as Rudy

Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Prairie Dawn, Mae

Ryan Dillon as Elmo, Trevor Monster, Bert understudy

Dave Goelz as Sly the Secretary Bird (Staples Center only)

Stacey Gordon as Julia

Eric Jacobson as Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Two-Headed Monster, Guy Smiley

Peter Linz as Ernie, Herry Monster

Joseph Mazzarino as Murray Monster

Carmen Osbahr-Vertiz as Rosita, Ovejita

Martin P. Robinson as Telly Monster, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Slimey

David Rudman as Cookie Monster, Baby Bear, Two-Headed Monster, Freddy

Matt Vogel as Big Bird, Count von Count, Mr. Johnson, Ernie understudy

Steve Whitmire as Weldon the IT Guy (Staples Center only)

Additional Muppets performed by Pam Arciero, Anthony Asbury, Heather Asch, Jake Bazel, Tau Bennett, Cheryl Blalock, Rickey Boyd, Lindsay Z. Briggs, Lisa Buckley, R. Bruce Connelly, Austin Michael Costello, Jamie Donmoyer, Mark Gale, Cameron Garrity, Louise Gold, Elizabeth Hara, Christopher Thomas Hayes, Haley Jenkins, Avery Lee Jones, Vicki Kenderes-Eibner, John Kennedy, Kathleen Kim, Adam Kreutinger, James Kroupa, Timothy Lagasse, Weston Chandler Long, Spencer Lott, Rick Lyon, Lara MacLean, Noel MacNeal, Jim Martin, Paul McGinnis, Anney Fresh McKilligan-Ozar, Andrew Moriarty, Kathryn Mullen, Karen Prell, David Quesal, Joey Rudman, Andy Stone, John Tartaglia, Gabriel Velez, Jack Vogel, James Wojtal Jr., Eric Wright, and Bryant Young.

Additional Muppets at Madison Square Garden performed by Bill Barkhurst, Lawrence Basgall, Nate Begle, Carol Binion, Ron Binion, Matthew Brooks, Ceili Clemens, Josh Cohen, Melissa Creighton, Carol D'Agostino, Bill Diamond, Ben Durocher, Jodie Eichelberger, David Matthew Feldman, Olga Felgemacher-Marin, Galen Fott, Aymee Garcia, Noah Ginex, James Godwin, B.J. Guyer, Andy Hayward, Patrick Daniel Holmes, Liz Joyce, Joe Kovacs, Mary Robinette Kowal, Michael Latini, Matthew Lavin, Amanda Faith Maddock, Wayne Martin, Ed May, Tracy Mick-Shoemaker, Annie Peterle, Marc Petrosino, Abby Roderick, Michael Schupbach, Michael Schwabe, Thom Stanley, David Stephens, Lisa Sturz, and Daniel Weissbrodt.

Additional Muppets at Staples Center performed by Brad Abrell, Grant Baciocco, Gregory Ballora, David Barclay, Tim Blaney, Julianne Buescher, Kevin Carlson, Raymond Carr, Nathan Danforth, Dorian Davies, Alice Dinnean, Artie Esposito, Peggy Etra, Darci Lynn Farmer, Thom Fountain, Terri Hardin, Rachel Herrick, Patrick Johnson, Sean William Johnson, James Kemp, Donna Kimball, Bruce Lanoil, Jayden Libran, Paul Louis, Drew Massey, Jess McKay, Alison Mork, James Murray, Michael Oosterom, Brett O'Quinn, Michael Quinn, Carla Rudy, Michelan Sisti, David Skelly, Colleen Smith, Alan Trautman, Jack Venturo, Russ Walko, Chase Woolner, and Victor Yerrid.

Additional Muppets at Wembley Arena performed by Donald Austen, William Banyard, Sue Beattie, Mikey Brett, Sarah Burgess, Dave Chapman, Marcus Clark, Sheila Clark, Richard Coombs, Paul Currie, Phil Eason, John Eccleston, Iestyn Evans, Damien Farrell, Phil Fletcher, Lisa Gillespie, Andy Heath, Brian Herring, Mark Jefferies, Chris Kendall, Stephen Kynman, Ronnie Le Drew, Rebecca Nagan, Steve Nallon, Wim Oppenheimer, Nigel Plaskitt, Sally Preisig, Collin Purves, Gillie Robic, Helena Smee, Kat Smee, Andrew James Spooner, Neil Sterenberg, Ollie Taylor, Chris Thatcher, William Todd-Jones, Robert Tygner, Julie Westwood, Victoria Willing, and Mak Wilson.

Additional Muppets at Rogers Centre performed by Terry Angus, Lee Armstrong, Adam Behr, Stephen Brathwaite, Jenny Cassady, Morris Chapdelaine, Kanja Chen, Ben Deutsch, Todd Doldersum, Ali Eisner, Matt Ficner, Tim Gosley, Kelly Haines, Kira Hall, Ingrid Hansen, Jason Hopley, Jani Lauzon, Trish Leeper, Jordan Lockhart, Benton Lowe, Frank Meschkuleit, Robert Mills, Pier Paquette, John Pattison, Michael Petersen, James Rankin, Daniel Redican, Geoffrey Redknap, Gordon Robertson, James Rowley, Sandra Shamas, Jamie Shannon, Ron Stefaniuk, Marty Stelnick, Fred Stinson, Bob Stutt, Jeff Sweeney, Karen Valleau, Cheryl Wagner, and Wende Welch.