Prairie's plays

[BEAR]

"Oh welcome, oh welcome to our little play..."

Remember all those great pageants that Prairie used to produce all the time starring Bert, Ernie and all the gang? I wish that she still did some new ones once in a while on the show. What were some of you favorites?

Also, if anyone has any mp3's of them and are willing to share, let me know. Thanks!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I definitely remember Prairie Dawn's plays.
"Oh welcome, oh welcome to our little play, we're so glad, we're so glad you joined us today" (I remember that little tune! )
The main one I recall is a play about brushing your teeth and I remember Herry being a tooth. I can't recall much beyond that. But another one she did was about the parts of the face and that was really cool! Herry, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie and Grover were all in it.

This is a classic skit- Prairie Dawn’s face pageant. Prairie plays the piano and says “The Sesame Street Little Theater proudly presents, “Let’s Make a Face”. As Prairie plays the piano, different characters come out with face parts and sing a verse about them. Ernie starts with a picture of eyes. (ends his rhyme by saying the eyes look like knives?) Prairie repeats it questioningly and Ernie laughs his trademark laugh and exits. Herry comes out with nose picture and at end of his rhyme says sometimes it’s worn on the face upside down. Prairie tells him, “No, it’s not. Now, cut that out.” Cookie Monster asks Prairie if he’s next and she tells him yes. Then he has to ask what part of the face he has and she has to tell him it’s a mouth. Cookie ends song by saying he likes mouth best when it’s eating! And then he names different cookies for example and Prairie ushers him out. When she calls the next two on stage, Bert asks, “Are you ready Grover?” And Grover says, “Yes, I am, Bert.” (It’s just really funny and cool to hear two Frank Oz characters talking to each other and saying each other’s name.) Then they sing about ears and Grover breaks off after a while and after Bert gives an obvious rhyme (“Let’s give 3 loud cheers for these things we call our ….”) Grover finishes with “Bellybuttons” and Bert chases him off the stage, correcting him saying, “Ears! They’re called ears! We rehearsed this!” and Grover says he’s sorry- he forgot. All of them come out then to put the face in place and get it wrong twice until they get it right on the third time. At the end of the song they all hum behind Prairie and then go out and run off stage, Ernie holds the eye picture over his eye and runs off too.

You can see this sketch on the 1986 Sesame Street Home Video release "I'm Glad I'm Me" (which is well worth getting, by the way. Besides this sketch, there's tons of other great songs and sketches, including 3 Kermit appearances!)
You can see a complete review of that video (and lots others) on this thread.
http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=22585&page=7

One other neat thing is that on the "Play with me Sesame" series, Prairie still sings her "welcome, oh welcome" song whenever they're showing off the kids' artwork. The words are a little changed, of course, but the it's the same tune and same intro there. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

[Mickey Moose]

This is a classic skit- Prairie Dawn’s face pageant. Prairie plays the piano and says “The Sesame Street Little Theater proudly presents, “Let’s Make a Face”. As Prairie plays the piano, different characters come out with face parts and sing a verse about them. Ernie starts with a picture of eyes. (ends his rhyme by saying the eyes look like knives?) Prairie repeats it questioningly and Ernie laughs his trademark laugh and exits.

I always thought he said "They look very nice" but changed it to "nise" to make it rhyme with "eyes". Either way, it's still funny.

 

[redBoobergurl]

Oh my gosh, I totally remember the play about the face! I used to laugh hysterically when Grover said bellybuttons (why is it that words like that are so funny to someone who is 4 years old? I'll never know). I wish I could remember some of Prairie's other plays, but I can usually only remember the first line she would sing. Did they perform any classic stories this way? For some reason I remember Little Red Riding Hood being sung in one of Prairie's plays, but I could be completely nuts. I probably am anyway.

 

[BooberFraggless]

I seem to remember several of Praries plays. I will list all I know, even those already mentioned.

The Seasons Pagaent

The Face Pagaent

The Food Pagaent from 1986 Featuring, Elmo, Leo the Party Monster, Telly and Herry Monster

The Pagaent where Bert is a tooth and Ernie is a Gigantic toothbrush (1970's?)

Ernie Herry and Gladys in a skit about how something grows

There was one that didn't feature Prarie but a brunnette muppet with Herry as a butterfly

Bert Growing into a big gigantic Flower and Cookie Monster taking Big Bites out of him.

I think this one had 3 little Pigs and a Big Bad Wolf dressed as cartons of Milk, and is from 1990.

A few on the street pagaents she had over the years were........

in 1991 when the new Garden opened, I remember Big Bird was dressed as a big gigantic corn on the cob.

In 1991 She put on a Season's paganet with Big Bird as summer, Elmo as Spring, Snuffy as Fall, and Grungetta as Winter. Eventually all the parts ended up being given to Tim Robbins.

I seem to remember one with Big Bird, Oscar and Baby Bear from the 1992-1993 Season. Right before they added the new music and around the corner set. Can someone help me out with this one?

 

[zanimum]

The Elmo's World on winter holidays saw Prairie put on a Nativity play...

http://toughpigs.com/myweekxmasvacation05.htm

Nick

 

[Mickey Moose]

There was also one that was done for the Sesame Street Christmas album. It was about a Christmas tree and Ernie got Bert to play the tree. I don't think it was ever done on the show itself.