Elmopalooza

Elmopalooza! is a Sesame Street special that aired on ABC on February 20, 1998. It was taped in the middle of the 29th season of Sesame Street and featured songs by celebrity guests.

About the show[]

The show is a musical that takes place at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, featuring performances from guests Jon Stewart, David Alan Grier, Rosie O'Donnell, Gloria Estefan, En Vogue, the Fugees, Kenny Loggins, Shawn Colvin, Jimmy Buffett and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to celebrate Sesame Street's 30th anniversary.

At the beginning of the show, Elmo accidentally traps Jon Stewart, the producer Prairie Dawn, and the crew for the show in a dressing room when he closes the broken door, locking them inside. David Alan Grier doesn't take this well and constantly yet harshly rebukes Elmo for this mistake, and doing the same to Telly for his neurotic behavior, who openly had a freakout over the country being doomed and was calmed down by Elmo. The Muppets decide to produce the show themselves, with Elmo hosting.

Meanwhile, Grover, Susan, Gordon, Gina, Bob, Michael, Lexine, Tarah, and Mr. Handford get lost on the way to Radio City Music Hall, and they end up in Roswell, New Mexico, having picked up chicken, penguins and the Yip-yip Martians as hitchhikers.

Despite a few malfunctions, the show goes on successfully as planned, until Rosita accidentally breaks the lightshow, causing Elmo to run away in terror. As Slimey rescues the crew, they have Kenny Loggins and Big Bird sing One Small Voice to motivate Elmo to come out of hiding. Elmo heads back on stage, feeling a lot better. Elmo, Grover, Susan, Gordon, Gina, Bob, Michael, Lexine, Tarah, Mr. Handford, and the cast sing a medley of Sesame Street songs at the end. Then, as the credits roll, the cast and performers perform, "Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?".

Song List[]

• "Just Happy To Be Me" with the Fugees
• "Mambo I, I, I" with Gloria Estefan
• "The Zig Zag Dance" with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• "I Don't Want To Live on The Moon" with Shawn Colvin and Ernie
• "I Want a Monster to Be My Friend" with En Vogue
• "Nearly Missed" with Rosie O'Donnell and Elmo
• "Caribbean Amphibian" with Jimmy Buffett and Kermit the Frog
• "One Small Voice" with Kenny Loggins and Big Bird and couple of kids
• Songs (medley) with Jon Stewart, David Alan Grier, Elmo and the cast
  • "Rubber Duckie" by Ernie
  • "ABC-DEF-GHI" by Big Bird
  • "I Love Trash" by Oscar the Grouch
  • "C Is For Cookie" by Cookie Monster
  • "The People in Your Neighborhood" - Lexine, Michael, Tarah, Bob, Gina, Gordon, Mr. Handford, Susan
• "Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?" (during end credits) - all performers and Muppets

Soundtrack[]

See main article Elmopalooza! (soundtrack)

Cast[]

• Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly as Gina
• Ruth Buzzi as Ruthie
• Emilio Delgado as Luis
• Loretta Long as Susan
• Sonia Manzano as Maria
• Bob McGrath as Bob
• Roscoe Orman as Gordon
• David Smyrl as Mr. Handford
• Lexine Bondoc as Lexine
• Michael Bundy as Michael
• Tarah Lynne Schaeffer as Tarah

Special guest appearances[]

• Tyra Banks - Herself
• Richard Belzer - Himself
• Tony Bennett - Himself (archive footage)
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Themselves
• Shawn Colvin - Herself
• Cindy Crawford - Herself
• Gloria Estefan - Herself
• The Fugees - Themselves
• David Alan Grier - Himself
• Kenny Loggins - Himself
• Madonna - Herself (archive footage)
• Conan O'Brien - Himself
• Rosie O'Donnell - Herself
• Chris Rock - Himself
• Jada Pinkett Smith - Herself (archive footage)
• Will Smith - Himself (archive footage)
• Jon Stewart - Himself
• En Vogue - Themselves
• Jimmy Buffett - Himself
• Lamb Chop (archive footage)
• Richard Harris - Himself (archive footage)
• Andy Richter - Himself
• Martin Short - Himself

Sesame Street Muppet Performers[]

• Kevin Clash as Elmo
• Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch
• Steve Whitmire as Kermit the Frog and Ernie
• Frank Oz as Bert, Cookie Monster, and Grover
• Jerry Nelson as Count von Count, Biff, Two-Headed Monster (Left Head), and Announcer
• David Rudman as Baby Bear, Sparky the Stuntman, Penguin, and Two-Headed Monster (Right Head)
• Fran Brill as Zoe and Prairie Dawn
• Joey Mazzarino as Horatio the Elephant
• Carmen Osbahr as Rosita
• Alice Dinnean as Penguin
• Martin P. Robinson as Mr. Snuffleupagus, Slimey the Worm, and Telly Monster
• Bryant Young as Rear End of Mr. Snuffleupagus

Additional Muppets performed by Brad Abrell, Pam Arciero, Julianne Buescher, Lisa Buckley, Kevin Carlson, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Eric Jacobson, John Kennedy, Peter Linz, Rick Lyon, Noel MacNeal, Jim Martin, Drew Massey, Don Reardon, Joe Selph, John Tartaglia and Matt Vogel.

Merchandise[]

The CD and cassette was released on March 3, 1998. This special was released on VHS and DVD on April 14, 1998.

External links[]

• Elmopalooza at IMDb
• Elmopalooza at Muppet Wiki