Abby Cadabby

**Abby Cadabby** is a fairy-in-training who lives on Sesame Street. She made her debut in 2006, in the first episode of *Sesame Street*’s 37th season, when she moved into the neighborhood and met some of the Street's residents. After counting to ten with the Count, Abby's magic wand sets off too much lightning and breaks, so Big Bird takes her to the Fix-It Shop so her wand can be repaired.

Her name is a play on the magic word "abracadabra." Abby's magical abilities include popping in and out of thin air, floating when she's happy, and turning things into pumpkins. Although familiar with the world of fairy tales, Abby is astounded by such basic learning skills as drawing letters or counting, prompting her catchphrase "That's so magic(al)!" She frequently uses her wand cell phone to call her mommy. When she's asked to return home, she says that she's "gotta poof" or "disappear." In recent years, she has used the phrase "Zippity-zap!" when casting a spell.

She can speak a language called "Dragonfly" and is teaching Rosita the language while Rosita teaches her Spanish. She also claims to speak "Butterfly" and "Puppydog." Along with Baby Bear, Abby begins attending school in Episode 4110 at the Storybook Community School, where Mrs. Goose is the teacher and other fairy tale characters like Hansel and Gretel are her classmates.

Abby's parents are divorced and she spends part of her time living with her mommy and part of it living with her daddy. By Season 47, Abby's mom got remarried to a monster named Freddy, and Abby also gained a new stepbrother, Rudy, who, for the first three episodes after his introduction, had a habit of borrowing her wand without asking.

Tony Geiss conceptualized Abby as a way to simultaneously introduce a major female character to the show and add someone from a different culture, without "having consciously to introduce somebody from Indonesia or India." Abby's design is an intentional departure from the typical Muppet look because she's not originally from Sesame Street. The implication is that the fairies in her old neighborhood look like her. Carrara's audition with Abby was a 15-minute long improv with Fran Brill as Zoe, about fairy castles.

Abby has starred in her own animated segments on the show; *Abby's Flying Fairy School*, which debuted in Season 40, and *Abby's Amazing Adventures*, premiering in Season 49. Abby's likeness has been adapted for a 43-foot balloon which premiered in the 2007 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a full-body costume character for stage appearances and a number of merchandise items.

In 2008, Abby was added to the cast of *Plaza Sésamo*, the Mexican co-production of *Sesame Street*, appearing in new segments where she tries to perform magic tricks with various ordinary objects. In 2009, she became the host of *3, 2, 1 Vamos!*, a Latin American pre-school programming block, which first aired in English in 2010, on Canadian television.

By Season 46, Abby developed an interest in gardening and maintains a fairy garden where she grows magical plants. The garden features prominently in Episode 4611, in which she and Elmo are coaxed by her kooky friend Jerome the Garden Gnome into playing some games.

Abby's love of gardening inspired a wardrobe change in Season 49. Her original dress was replaced with a blue t-shirt with a flower emblem, and a purple/blue skirt decorated in flower petals. She also now wears a floral bracelet, a firefly necklace (nicknamed "Hope" by builder Sierra Schoening after her younger sister) and ladybug barrettes in her hair. For Season 50, she was given a smaller, simplified skirt.