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Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia
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About Muppets In Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story
Review [H]ighly entertaining and readable[.] ― The Guardian In a sparkling memoir of the era and the enterprise, Natasha Lance Rogoff rereates the frantic and vertiginous efforts to launch Ulitsa Sezam against what turned out to be tremendous headwinds. ― The Wall Street Journal The Sesame Street spinoff set out to be the first Russian-language educational TV program aimed specifically at preschoolers. The project received support from both American and Russian government officials…. Yet the co-production endured a relentless slew of challenges, including financing woes, the invasion of its offices by armed soldiers and thorny conflicts as the cheery ethos and bold aesthetic of Sesame Street ran headlong into Russia’s rich, but markedly different, cultural traditions. Time and again, Ulitsa Sezam had to be salvaged from the brink of collapse by passionate teams on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s a tumultuous tale lovingly chronicled in Muppets in Moscow, a new book by American journalist, TV producer and filmmaker Natasha Lance Rogoff. ― Smithsonian Magazine In this hilarious, eye-opening memoir, an American TV producer recounts her adventures in bringing Bert, Ernie, Oscar, and friends, to post-Soviet Russian television in the mid-’90s. ― The Philadelphia Inquirer In this thrilling debut, television producer and filmmaker Rogoff recounts her mission to bring Sesame Street to Russian audiences. In 1993, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Sesame Workshop hired the Russian-speaking Rogoff to serve as the lead producer for Ulitsa Sezam—the Russian coproduction of the children’s program Sesame Street. Part of an American effort to help Russia transition to becoming a Western-style democracy, Ulitsa Sezam, Rogoff explains, was considered the perfect vehicle to convey democratic values of tolerance and inclusion to Russian children. Ulitsa Sezam enjoyed a successful run in Russia from 1996 to 2010, but as Rogoff reveals in captivating detail, its success came with challenges, from resistance among the show’s Russian crew (citing Russia’s “long, rich and revered puppet tradition” the lead writer told Rogoff “we don’t need your American Moppets in our children’s show”) to an armed takeover by Russian soldiers of the initiative’s offices in Moscow. Still, Rogoff persisted, enabling the creation of wholly new muppet characters that resonated with Russian audiences, all while balancing the task of new motherhood, even as the venture tottered on the verge of collapse multiple times. The resulting tale is one of perseverance and creativity that illuminates how even the most disparate cultures and perspectives can find common ground. ― Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Rogoff’s wild tale of producing the Russian version of Sesame Street (Ulitsa Sezam) in the early to mid-1990s is skillfully written and a joy to read. She takes readers on the perilous journey that began when she accepted the assignment to launch the show in a post-Soviet Moscow; she was then a young Russian-speaking American independent documentary filmmaker who loved Russia and its culture. Ulitsa Sezam was partially funded by the United States, but Rogoff was responsible for financing the rest of the project. Her account of producing Ulitsa Sezam demonstrates the sheer creativity and all the joys and difficulties—at one point, there’s a military takeover of the production office—involved in the project. She carefully explains the work by U.S. and Russian set designers, puppeteers, musicians, and writers to create Russian puppets (that weren’t the “ambassadors of Western values” the United States had envisioned) and sets. The tale of this collaboration between U.S. and Russian artists working toward a shared educational goal creates a very unique story that is important and timely. For all readers interested in understanding international media and film production and its role in U.S. diplomacy. ― Library Journal, Starred Review When the USSR dissolved in 1
