Muppets in Moscow

The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia

Muppets in Moscow

The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia

Natasha Lance Rogoff (Author)

Paperback ~~$18.95~~ $17.05 Hardback ~~$26.95~~ $24.25 Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ~~$17.05~~ $13.64 Ebook (PDF) ~~$17.05~~ $13.64

Quantity

In stock

$17.05 RRP $18.95 Website price saving $1.90 (10%)

Add to basket

Add to wishlist

This product is usually dispatched within 3 days

Delivery and returns info
Free US delivery on orders $35 or over

Description

FINALIST - 2023 PUSHKIN HOUSE BOOK PRIZE
“A gem of a book! A must read for anyone looking to understand Russia better!”
— Clarissa Ward, CNN chief international correspondent and author of On All Fronts
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.

Product details

Published	Mar 12 2024
Format	Paperback
Edition	1st
Extent	302
ISBN	9781538187531
Imprint	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Illustrations	26 b/w photos
Dimensions	9 x 6 inches
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Natasha Lance Rogoff

[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.

The 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