Sesame Street‘s Oscar the Grouch Wicked‘s Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) can relate to each other when it comes to being green — so why not sing about it together? Just ahead of the opening weekend of Wicked in theaters, Erivo paid a visit to Oscar the Grouch for a duet of a classic, “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green,” originated by Kermit the Frog on both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show in 1970.
Their collaboration was unveiled on Sesame Street‘s official YouTube channel Wednesday morning (Nov. 20). Elphaba in Wicked is famously green, just like Oscar, though Erivo appears as herself in this performance of the oft-covered, Joe Raposo-penned song. Among the many covers of “Bein’ Green” that have been recorded over the years are versions by Frank Sinatra (1971), Van Morrison (1973), Diana Ross (1974), Ray Charles (1975), Don Henley (1994) and Tony Bennett (1998).
In this version, Oscar — who seems to just want to fit in with the neighborhood trash cans he frequents — sings, “It’s not easy bein’ green/ Having to spend each day the color of the leaves/ When I think it could be nicer being gray or rust or puce/ Or something much less colorful like that.”
“Hold on,” Erivo interrupts, cleverly pointing out, “Now, I know a thing or two about being green … And you should like — well, no, love — being green, Oscar.”
“Really? You’re talking to a grouch here,” Oscar says in the video.
The actress responds with a reminder to be proud of who you are, and then lends her gorgeous voice to the next verse, making all things green sound simply sublime: “Because green is the color of slime/ And green can be gross and moldy-like/ And green can be smelly like a stinkweed, or angry like an alligator, or sour like a pickle.”
Their voices come together as Erivo harmonizes with the green monster of Sesame Street, singing, “When green is all there is to be/ It could make you wonder why/ But why wonder, why wonder?”
“I am green and it’ll do fine/ It’s yucky, and I think it’s what I want to be,” Oscar decides.
But don’t worry. He snaps out of that sweet moment just in time to tell the movie star to “Scram!”
“Never change, Oscar,” says Erivo.
Watch their “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green” duet below. Wicked officially opens Nov. 22, with early screenings in select theaters on Nov. 20.
