Award-winning television producer and documentary filmmaker Natasha Lance Rogoff chats with Trey Elling about MUPPETS IN MOSCOW: THE UNEXPECTED CRAZY TRUE STORY OF MAKING SESAME STREET IN RUSSIA. Topics include:
- Why Sesame Street asked her to bring the show to Russia (2:00)
- Starting with getting past Russia’s gatekeepers (8:29)
- Finally finding Russian financing (14:42)
- The difficulty of convincing Russians to diversify the show’s music (17:07)
- The Russian production team not understanding America’s racism (23:59)
- Russia’s culture and values worth exposing to its children with Sesame Street (30:11)
- Important details for the Russian Sesame Street neighborhood (39:05)
- The sadness involved with casting Russian child actors (43:41)
- Creating the Russia-specific Muppet puppets (47:27)
- Finally getting to the television premiere in October 1996 (52:26)
- The lasting legacy of Russian Sesame Street (54:41)