Little Lamb, Big Talent

[dwmckim]

Okay, as a segment Murray Has a Little Lamb is overall in the middle - it's entertaining, doesn't make you want to tune out, but it also doesn't rank up there as a classic. But there is one thing that i really love about these bits - the puppetry in them is extraordinary!

Of course Joey Mazzarino does his usual excellent job and i don't want to sound like i'm glossing over his work on the Murray segments since both Murray and Ovejita pull off some amazing stuff in these, but mainly i wanted to post how much i'm really impressed by Carmen Osbahr's work puppeteering Ovejita - she gets the most incredible moves out of this little puppet ... and both Osbahr and Mazzarino are doing these out in the real world, often outdoors, where they have to be in the most uncomfortable positions to get get the shots they need.

Watching the MHaLL segments i often find myself realizing how totally underestimated Osbahr is as a puppeteer. She's been with Sesame Street/the Muppets since around the early-90's and with the Spanish version before then so she's had lots of time to really hone her craft but because she's played so few major characters and mostly does the often underappreciated jobs of right-handing and backgrounding, it's easy not to notice how great her puppetry skills are but her work with Ovejita in these segments really are a showcase for her...she's pulling off moves with that puppet that one typically associates with the level of Clash or Whitmire! Just wanted to devote a thread to shout out my appreciation for the tremendous job she's doing and hope she gets a chance to do much more.

 

[The Shoe Fairy]

Oh yeah, I totally agree. And you know, the scariest thing is that I learn't some spanish off MHALL.

 

[Redsonga]

I know almost nothing about playing a puppet but I have to say as a viewer of the two, his little lamb is the most 'alive' . You can hardly tell she isn't doing everything by herself...

 

[tutter_fan]

Yeah, she's so 'alive', and yet, Ovejita & Murray are 2 of the funniest muppets I've ever seen. I like the part in some "Mhall" segments where Murray asks for a clue, and they're both at a tree, and Ovejita is on the right, and on the tree, there's a button. When she presses the button, out of nowhere, a clue that relates to the school they're going to falls on Murray. Simply hilarious! She's so cute & funny!

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I thought Carmen Osbahr's had been with the show sense the late eighties. But I agree that her talents have been pretty underrated as a performer. And Joey is nothing short of brilliant too! Do you remember him as the monster on Eureka's Castle. I was blown away!

 

[Drtooth]

Here here... the amazing chemistry between the 2 characters really sells this segment. And as much as I think the opening should be trimmed (the guess what school part) I would be hesitant to delete that part entirely.

I always said, the muppets look good in a studio, in a controlled environment... but they look absolutely smashing in the real world, talking and interacting with real people. I say, it was about time Sesame Street took the Postcards from uncle Matt approach. I even love those tiny little bits about the word on the street where he talks to random people about what a word means, be it a child or (even funnier) and adult.

These are just millions of time more amazing than those old inserted films about kids doing stuff. I was never wild about them, myself (though it tends to vary by segment). It really bridges the gap between SS being a little street that exists on a sound stage somewhere, and a world of imagination that can cross with our real world.

And I will say, while the idea of a character being upstaged by a smaller character at every turn isn't exactly new to the muppets, Carmen adds something to Li'l Lamb that makes the joke seem as freash as it was when Marshal Grover and Fred the Wonder horse did that schtick.

 

[Redsonga]

....I like the little films about kids doing stuff..I always have *hides* In fact, I liked them better than most of the letter cartoons when I was little....
I actually wish that it was not limited to just schools, but then that does go agaist that whole theme..Hmm I guess just about any topic could have a school to visit though . "Murray goes to rock climbing school! Murray at acting school" *heehee*

 

[Princeton]

Are any of these MHALL segments on YouTube yet?

 

[Oscarfan]

Yes they are.

Karate School

Art School

Science/Nature School

Soccer School

 

[StreetScenes]

how much do i like MHALL? adivina, hee hee hee!

thoughtful, funny, and top notch puppetering. i love 'em b/c they combine one of the cutest elements of classic SS (muppet & kid segments) with classic TMS violence (stuff dropped on murray's head, ovejita's crash landings) that we rarely get on SS any more, proving once again that physical humor can entertain without making kids want to mimic it.

and though it's long, i wouldn't cut the intro--that's where you get MULTIPLE spanish words in one segment, and a character just speaking spanish, which has also been absent from recent SS. and always going to a school does double duty: repetition of the word escuela without making it boring and presenting schools as fun places to be.