Performing Arts
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Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia
"In this thrilling debut, television producer and filmmaker Rogoff recounts her mission to bring Sesame Street to Russian audiences.... 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
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the timing appeared perfect to bring Sesame Street to millions of children living in the former Soviet Union. With the Muppets envisioned as ideal ambassadors of Western values, no one anticipated just how challenging and dangerous this would prove to be.
In Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia, Natasha Lance Rogoff brings this gripping tale to life. Amidst bombings, assassinations, and a military takeover of the production office, Lance Rogoff and the talented Moscow team of artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and puppeteers remained determined to bring laughter, learning, and a new way of seeing the world to children in Russia, Ukraine and across the former Soviet empire. With a sharp wit and compassion for her colleagues, Lance Rogoff observes how cultural clashes colored nearly every aspect of the production-from the show's educational framework to writing comedy to the new Russian Muppets themselves-despite the team's common goal.
Brimming with insight and nuance, Muppets in Moscow skillfully explores the post-Soviet societal tensions that continue to thwart the Russian people's efforts to create a better future for their country. More than just a story of a children's show, this book provides a valuable perspective of Russia's people, their culture, and their complicated relationship with the West that remains relevant even today.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the timing appeared perfect to bring Sesame Street to millions of children living in the former Soviet Union. With the Muppets envisioned as ideal ambassadors of Western values, no one anticipated just how challenging and dangerous this would prove to be.
In Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia, Natasha Lance Rogoff brings this gripping tale to life. Amidst bombings, assassinations, and a military takeover of the production office, Lance Rogoff and the talented Moscow team of artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and puppeteers remained determined to bring laughter, learning, and a new way of seeing the world to children in Russia, Ukraine and across the former Soviet empire. With a sharp wit and compassion for her colleagues, Lance Rogoff observes how cultural clashes colored nearly every aspect of the production-from the show's educational framework to writing comedy to the new Russian Muppets themselves-despite the team's common goal.
Brimming with insight and nuance, Muppets in Moscow skillfully explores the post-Soviet societal tensions that continue to thwart the Russian people's efforts to create a better future for their country. More than just a story of a children's show, this book provides a valuable perspective of Russia's people, their culture, and their complicated relationship with the West that remains relevant even today.
Editorial Reviews
[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
Above all, it is a story of great poignance and a love letter to the ideal of educating children through television.
― New York Post
The book provides lessons for businesses on how to overcome cultural clashes.
― Forbes
There has been no shortage of journalistic books, memoirs and political analyses written by Russians and foreigners on the country in the 1990s, a time of great change and turmoil but also hope. Yet none is quite like this one. Muppets in Moscow is at least three stories woven into a single, readable tale.
― Financial Times
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
Sesame Street's American creator, Joan Ganz Cooney, first got the idea for the programme when she was in a U.S. supermarket and noticed children asking for products they'd seen advertised on TV. Why not create something, she thought, that used the same principle but to sell educational and moral messages? Translating this to Russia proved tricky…. The difficulties make for a story t...
― 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
Above all, it is a story of great poignance and a love letter to the ideal of educating children through television.
― New York Post
The book provides lessons for businesses on how to overcome cultural clashes.
― Forbes
There has been no shortage of journalistic books, memoirs and political analyses written by Russians and foreigners on the country in the 1990s, a time of great change and turmoil but also hope. Yet none is quite like this one. Muppets in Moscow is at least three stories woven into a single, readable tale.
― Financial Times
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
Sesame Street's American creator, Joan Ganz Cooney, first got the idea for the programme when she was in a U.S. supermarket and noticed children asking for products they'd seen advertised on TV. Why not create something, she thought, that used the same principle but to sell educational and moral messages? Translating this to Russia proved tricky…. The difficulties make for a story t...
Readers Top Reviews
T. HuttonShann
This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to do business in a foreign country whose history and culture is very different from American culture. While the book describes the process of working in Russia 30 years ago, there are insights to be gained and lessons to be learned from the detailed description of creating a Russian version of Sesame Street that are still valid today.
SRSrosebud43john
This was a fun (and sad at times) story. I enjoyed it.
K. NelsonSRSroseb
Amazing account of a challenging time in history, possibly holding some answers to the questions we have about today’s Russia, its politics and cultural perspectives. Natasha Lance Rogoff takes us on a wild ride through Russia of the 1990s as she assembles a team of like-minded individuals in new Russia to bring Sesame Street to the Russian children. It’s a story of adventure, cultural clashes, even murder, but ultimately, hope. Great book!
