In Praise of Sesame Street!
Sesame Street debuted on PBS 40 years ago today.
It broke new ground in children’s television in a number of important ways. It was one of the first shows that didn’t talk down to kids; it presented both educational and cultural topics with age-appropriate humor, that often contained a contemporary social reference or two designed to amuse adults. But it was never snarky. It didn’t assume kids were little adults, but it also never treated them like little morons, either.
It was, as far as I know, one of the first truly integrated shows; one that didn’t make a BIG DEAL out of it. Sesame Street showed black, white, Latino, Asian and disabled kids and adults, living, working and playing together without feeling the need to comment on it. It was just so normal.
Sesame Street applied the same calm rationality to its treatment of some serious topics, like death and adoption, which it addressed without the coyness or condescension that still plagues children’s programming.
Lots of contemporary children’s programming condescends to kids by either attempting to “connect” with them via pop-culture references and kiddie-rock music. Alternately, they try to “improve intelligence” and “elevate” kids with classical music and art—as if it were some kind of mental castor oil, to clean out all that nasty pop culture in their little heads.
Not Sesame Street. It presented arts and culture as a natural and essential part of children’s experience, and didn’t attempt to differentiate between “high” and “low” culture. It presented all kinds of great stuff, from ballet to hip-hop, with the distinct idea that kids could decide what they liked without any kind of adult commentary on what was “good” or merely “good for them.”
I could sing the praises of Sesame Street for pages, but instead, I’ll leave you with some of my favorite Sesame moments, culled from an old blog post.
Enjoy!
Opera singers have not historically been known for their sense of humor or fondness for the toddler set.
Nevertheless, a few contemporary singers have flouted the conventional image of divas and divos, recognizing, perhaps, that a guest appearance on Sesame Street is the highest honor that can be accorded a performer, cementing their celebrity in the bedrock of popular culture.
So here, for your delectation, is Opera Sesame:
American mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves sings a variation on the Habañera from Bizet’s Carmen.
Trivia: You may recognize the glamorous Ms. Graves as one of the performers who joined President Obama in singing “Happy Birthday” to Ted Kennedy recently.
Legendary mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne sings “C is for Cookie” decked out in full full Aida regalia.
Trivia: Ms. Horne supplied the singing voice for Dorothy Dandridge in the 1954 film Carmen Jones.
Prolific bass Samuel Ramey sings a “letter-perfect” rendition of the “Toreador Song” from Bizet’s Carmen.
Trivia: Despite being perhaps the most famous bass of the past quarter-century, Ramey is just a small-town boy at heart. Born and raised in Colby, KS (pop. 5,450), which reportedly erected a sign bearing the legend “Birthplace of Samuel Ramey,” Ramey had never even seen an opera until he was in one.
Über-soprano Renée Fleming counts off to the tune of “Caro nome” from Verdi’s Rigoletto.
Trivia: Last year, Fleming became the inspiration and public face of a new perfume named (what else?) “La Voce.”
Placido Flamingo was a recurring character on Sesame Street. Here he meets his namesake, Plácido Domingo (aka The Second Tenor) for a strange little duet.
Trivia: In the1970s, tenor Carlo Casutta replaced Domingo in a San Francisco performance of Verdi’s Otello. Years later, Domingo returned the favor in spectacular style, flying in to San Francisco at the last minute to replace an ailing Casutta in the same role. Patrons waited patiently, receiving regular updates on the super-tenor’s progress across the country (“He’s over Denver”) and were rewarded when the curtain rose–three hours late–on one of the world’s greatest singers in his signature role.
Popera tenor Andrea Bocelli pays a visit to Elmo, turning his signature tune “Con te partirò” into a lullaby, and demonstrating how remunerative it can be to develop a machine-gun vibrato.
Trivia: Despite his blindness (due to congenital glaucoma) Bocelli has appeared in seven staged operas.
