If you’re a parent of a toddler, you’ll quickly discover that the Christmas season will begin as soon as Halloween wraps up. The second the Jack-O-Lantern gets removed from the front steps, they’ll be ready for Santa. They don’t care that much about Thanksgiving since even the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is only about Santa and Christmas. What’s even more astounding is that your small child will keep celebrating Christmas until Valentine’s Day or even St. Patrick’s Day. When my kid was three years old, they wanting to wear their favorite Christmas t-shirt for Easter dinner. The kids want to see holiday specials during this prolonged time. Regular tv channels and streaming services don’t like making them accessible after New Year’s Eve festivities. That’s why Sesame Street: Elmo’s Holiday Spectacular: The Nutcracker and Other Tales can be a valuable part of your never-ending holidays. The disc contains three separate Christmas specials from Muppets and famous guest stars. No matter how warm it is outside, you can pop the DVD into the player to keep feeling the magic of the winter holidays on TV for your child or children.
The Nutcracker: Starring Elmo & Tango (26:02) is an animated special about what happens when Elmo’s parents throw a holiday part on Christmas Eve. There’s lots of music that references Tchaikovsky’s ballet. Tango gets a squishy doggy toy that looks like a nutcracker. Before he goes to sleep, Elmo’s dad reads the story about the Nutcracker. After the lights go out, Tango can talk to Elmo. He realizes this is a dream and doesn’t freak out when a talking mouse arrives on the scene. They go to a magical land and run into Abby Cadabby and other pals from Sesame Street. This special originally aired last Christmas season.
Elmo’s Christmas Countdown (44:24) brings Stiller The Elf (Ben Stiller) onto the street and he needs Elmo help to fix the Christmas Countdown. This is live action with the real Muppets although the Sesame Street set look like a pop-up book. This show is filled with musical moments and major guest stars including Jamie Foxx, Sheryl Crow, Jennifer Hudson, Kevin James, Alicia Keys, Brad Paisley and Ty Pennington. The highlight for any grown up is when Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa from The Sopranos dress up as Ernie and Bert for a holiday variation of the “Banana In Your Ear” sketch. Bert gets frustrated giving Paulie Walnuts direction. You might hit rewind on this sketch enough to burn out the kid. This special aired for the holidays in 2007.
Elmo Saves Christmas (55:29) has Maya Angelou hanging out with kids and Muppets in an apartment on Sesame Street. She recounts the tale of how Elmo saved the special holiday. The little red guy has to prevent the Cookie Monster from eating all the cookies that were made for Santa. Later he has to rescue a stuck Santa (The Muppet Movie‘s Charles Durning) from his chimney. In gratitude, Santa gives Elmo a magic globe that’s good for three wishes. Can Elmo choose wisely? Not to give away too much, but Harvey Fierstein (Torch Song Trilogy) is the Easter Bunny. The humans of the neighborhood include Bob (Bob McGrath), Luis (Emilio Delgado), Maria (Sonia Manzano), Gordon (Roscoe Orman), Carlo (Carlo Alban) and Mr. Handford (David Smyrl). There’s also a lot of clips from It’s A Wonderful Life. This special aired in 1996.
Sesame Street: Elmo’s Holiday Spectacular: The Nutcracker and Other Tales captures three different periods of the show. Even through the neighborhood changes along with some of the neighbors, the holiday spirit always glows. If your little kid (or maybe yourself) is an Elmo fanatic, you’ll be watching this DVD quite a few times during the season.
The Video is 1.78:1 on the animated special while the earlier two are 1.33:1 full frame. The transfers look fine and festive. The Audio is Dolby Digital Stereo for all three specials. You can hear the happy sounds of Christmas on Sesame Street. All three specials are subtitled in English and Spanish.
Shout! Kids and Sesame Workshop presents Sesame Street: Elmo’s Holiday Spectacular: The Nutcracker and Other Tales. Starring Elmo, Tango, Cookie Monster, Ben Stiller, Maya Angelou and Jamie Foxx. Boxset Contents: 3 specials on 1 DVD. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: October 10, 2023.
