B is for Broadway: Celebrating 45 Years of "Sesame Street" with Sutton Foster, Stephen Sondheim, Samuel Beckett and More | Playbill

News B is for Broadway: Celebrating 45 Years of "Sesame Street" with Sutton Foster, Stephen Sondheim, Samuel Beckett and More Forty-five years ago today, on Nov. 10, 1969, sunny days first began sweeping the clouds away as "Sesame Street" premiered on television. The show has educated generations of children not just about spelling, counting and the proper toy to take a bath with, but also introduced them to the music and stars of the theatre. Where else could kids see "Ethel Mermaid" belt out a song about how she gets a "Kick Out of U," or Tony Award winner Sutton Foster sing about the wonders of levers?

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Cookie Monster as Jean Bon-Bon in "Les Mousserables"

In celebration of 45 years of "Sesame Street," here are some of its best Broadway-style segments.

Cookie Monster singing "Me Am What Me Am" (inspired by "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux Folles)

Monsterpiece Theater's "Waiting for Elmo" (inspired by Waiting for Godot)

Sutton Foster singing "Lever Lover"

Ethel Mermaid singing "I Get a Kick Out of U" (inspired by Ethel Merman's performance of "I Get a Kick Out of You" from Anything Goes)

Monsterpiece Theater's version of Fiddler on the Roof, including "Addition" based on the song "Tradition"

Oscar the Grouch and Abby singing "Look, I Made a Splat" (inspired by "Finishing the Hat" from Sunday in the Park With George)

Neil Patrick Harris as Fairy Shoeperson

"Veg Side Story," including the song "Zucchini" (inspired by "Maria" from West Side Story)

Hoots the Owl singing "A Cookie Is a Sometime Food" (inspired by "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing" from Porgy and Bess)

Harvey Fierstein singing "Everything's Coming Up Noses" (inspired by "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy)

A trailer for "Les Mousserables" (inspired by Les Misérables)

Carol Channing singing "Hello, Sammy!" (inspired by the title song from Hello, Dolly!)

"Pear" (inspired by the title song from Hair)

Tracey Ullman in an Oscar the Grouch segment inspired by My Fair Lady

 
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