Behind the Scenes of Musical on a Stick.

 I found this post from Sprout for Parents while surfing through Archive.org:

Where did this idea come from?
We wanted to do a big musical for the holidays, but we work with so many characters here at Sprout that it’s almost impossible to get everyone together at the same time. Last year when we did “Hooray for the Holidays,” Kelly couldn’t make it so we had to tape her separately and edit her in. I don’t think anyone noticed! When we looked at everyone’s schedules this year, we realized that we couldn’t get everyone in the same place at the same time, so we tried to find a creative solution. Someone said as a joke, that we should make stick puppets out of our characters. We all laughed…but we loved it. And decided to make it happen.

How do you turn an idea like this into an actual TV show?
You have to find the right people! Once we were committed to making this happen, we had to figure out a team to turn the idea into a production.  We work with a great composer named Tim Burns, who does a lot of work for Sprout and his wife, Bernice Vanderlaan is a writer for The Let’s Go Show. We knew the two of them love the holidays and we thought they’d be the perfect team for the musical.  So we got in touch.

You told them you wanted to make a musical with stick puppets and they wrote a whole show based on that little bit of information?
Basically, yes! 

After they delivered the script and the score, we were ready for set and puppet design. I knew Mike Pantuso from working together at Sesame Street, and I contacted him. He and his wife, Evelyn, created the sets and the puppets.  They did a phenomenal job.  The puppets look so simple—they’re basically print outs of the website coloring page that Mike and Evelyn rigged so the mouths open and arms move.  The puppets look like they are homemade—and they are—but they also work very well from a production standpoint.

How did you bring Preschool Musical on a Stick to life?
First we recorded all the character’s dialogue and songs and edited that together. Then we used the finished audio to tape the puppets.

The taping was so much fun!  Because there were so many characters, we had an open casting call to all of our Sprout employees.  We sent an email to everyone (“Calling all Stick-eteers!”) and told them that if they were interested in helping, they should show up in the studio on a certain day. We had a great response--everyone from our Senior Vice President of Programming to Kelly from the Sunnyside Up Show pitched in! And it was an eye-opener for a lot of us. Cramming ten people into that small set was a challenge!

What did everybody think when they saw it? 
They were totally blown away! It’s so colorful and so funny. Creating something so different and innovative made us realize that sometimes the best ideas don’t need to break the bank. This show fits really well with our mission to inspire ideas that invite preschoolers and their families to share and play together. And we all had a ton of fun making it happen.

As we were wrapping up our conversation, Meredith compared the origin of the Preschool Musical on a Stick with the creation of Carla, the Let’s Go Cart. 
When we were brainstorming ideas for the perfect car for The Let’s Go Show, we were thinking about a hybrid car, or maybe an animated vehicle, until we realized that the perfect car for kids is a cardboard box. It fits in with Sprout’s philosophy of finding creative solutions that kids can make and do at home.  That’s why we’re planning all sorts of ways to get our kids involved with the Preschool Musical on a Stick. From making their own puppets to learning choreography so they can dance along with the show, there will be lots of ideas on SproutOnline.com.

It just so happens that I know someone who knows someone who knows Kelly! And I asked them what Kelly thought when she saw herself as a puppet. I mean, it’s got to be an unusual moment to confront an animated stick that looks like you! Here’s what Kelly said:
When I was little – I was always putting on plays for my friends.  I loved creating puppets and making up stories.  I have always wanted to be made into a character, like a cartoon, and seeing myself as a stick puppet is the COOLEST.  It’s crazy to see that.  It brings me right back to being a kid.  And when I think that preschoolers can go to sproutonline.com to make their own stick puppets and put on their own play – it’s so amazing!  If I see a picture of a Sproutlet holding up their own Kelly stick puppet – I’ll probably scream out loud with excitement and then giggle.  That would be SO great!

Update: I also found this...

Meredith, what made you decide to change the musical?

We loved Preschool Musical so much last year and got such a great response from it that we wanted to share it again.  We knew people would like the show, but we didn’t realize how successful it would be on podcasts and vod (video on demand).  But there’s so much that’s new this year at Sprout, including our new morning block and The Wiggles, and we wanted the musical to represent all of our Sprout family.  We thought it would be funny to revise the show and call it Sprout’s Preschool Musical On 2 Sticks. It’s even stickier than last year!

 

What will be different?

The Wiggles have a new scene in the special and they are part of the finale.  Oh, and they are on 2 sticks!

 

I thought the special was so good last year, and so complete. How do you add something to a show that’s already finished?

We worked with what’s already there, and we tried adding the new elements in a way that makes sense. We created a scene where The Wiggles sing a song about the big holiday feast they are making for the “Very, Very Extraordinary Merry Musical Sproutacular!” (Meredith giggles as she says this title, much like a Sproutlet might when singing the song to her parents!) That’s the big show all the Sprout characters are making their way through the snowstorm to get to.  

 

Did The Wiggles actually puppeteer the stick puppets themselves?

Yes! I went to Australia to film a second batch of content for Sprout’s Wiggly Waffle. While I was there, we filmed The Wiggles holding their own sticks over green screens. It was hysterical, and they loved it. They were joking around with each other, kidding each other with the sticks just like kids. They thought it was so funny to see themselves as puppets.

 

I remember you said the hosts felt the same way last year when they saw themselves as stick puppets. Some things must be universal!

Exactly. And we think kids feel the same if they turn pictures of themselves into stick puppets. That’s really what’s so special about this show, and all of Sprout, —the way we want children to get involved. 

 

Will you change the show every year? 

Good question. The answer is, we never know what we’re going to do until we start doing it. We’re not sure what will come next year.  So you’ll have to keep watching!

What is the same this year, and what I think makes the show so exciting, is that this is meant to be an interactive experience. You can go online to make your own puppets and play along. You can listen to the music, you can sing with us—it’s all about getting preschoolers involved.  

Have you watched Sprout’s Preschool Musical on Two Sticks?  How do you and your children interact with the show? You can create puppets, download the music and get the schedule on SproutOnline.com! Do you have any questions for Sprout's creative team? Let me know here and I'll see if I can find answers for you!