Miranda began composing for “Sesame” not long after his first Tony win in 2008 his friend Bill Sherman, a fellow Tony winner, became the “Sesame” music director the following year. “On top of that, their songs are the closest thing we have to a shared childhood songbook.” “I learned from ‘Sesame Street’ that music is not only incredibly fun, but also an extremely effective narrative and teaching tool,” he added in an email. “Sesame Street is one of the earliest examples of a musical I experienced,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda, who grew up adoring “I Love Trash” and called its singer, Oscar the Grouch, “a character so singular that he changes the way you see the world at large.” And long before inclusion was a curriculum goal, “Sesame Street” made a point to showcase Afro-Caribbean rhythms, operatic powerhouses, Latin beats, Broadway showstoppers and bebop alongside its notably diverse cast.
Before “Sesame Street,” it wasn’t even clear that you could do that once the series began, as a radical experiment that joined educational research and social idealism with the lunacy of puppets and the buoyancy of advertising jingles, it proved that kids are very receptive to a grammar lesson wrapped in a song.īig-name stars lined up to make guest appearances that have become the stuff of legend (Stevie Wonder and Grover Loretta Lynn and the Count Smokey Robinson and a marauding letter U).
Since its inception in 1969, the public television show has redefined what it means to teach children through TV, with music as its resounding voice. How many ways can you sing about the letter B? On “Sesame Street,” that question has many furry answers.