Flashback: Sesame Street Live

When I saw that 'Sesame Street Live - Elmo Makes Music' was coming to our city, I knew Henry would really enjoy it. He's never been to any kind of show or movie, so I was a little nervous. But Elmo was involved, so I had hope!! The show was on November 13th, and I was almost foolish enough to try and bring both kids by myself. Then I smartened up and asked a friend if she could watch George, and thankfully she was able to. That made it so I was able to just focus on Henry having a blast!

Ready to go!

In the theater. "What is this magic?!"

The show was actually really cute and fun. They periodically had the monsters come out in the audience and wave to the kids and interact. I was a little miffed because the row in front of us was empty, but the monsters couldn't come down it because someone put their car seat in the way. Way to ruin our fun, stranger!! Sorry, I digress...  At one point a random monster (pictured below) managed to make their way close enough to us to give Henry a high five. While I think Henry was a bit taken off guard, he thought it was pretty cool. I didn't really get a picture of that moment, but you can imagine it ;)

Henry got to high five this beautiful monster. [Also see lovely fun-blocking family two rows in front of us...grr]

At first I had Henry set up in the chair next to me. But that got a bit distracting, as it was one of those movie-theater style chairs that was trying to eat him. I ended up sitting him in my lap--where he stayed for almost the entire time (over an hour!). Impressive, I know.

Happiness.

There were a lot of different musical numbers, most of which were about making music. One or two might have been about finding lost instruments or something. [Insert joke about Sesame Street beating a dead horse by making music about making music, which adults find monotonous but children find amazing].

Henry was literally ENTHRALLED the entire time, which actually made it really fun for both of us. It's an awesome feeling to see your child be so happy, and to be able to share that moment with them :) Even if it's over seeing Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street gang dancing and singing in real life.

Captivated. Maybe there was some sort of subliminal brainwashing going on.

singing & dancing

I think Elmo came out near us maybe once or twice. But like I mentioned, the car seat family...

Rockin robin birds with Big Bird

I will say something about this production... they definitely know how to make money. They have it down to a science. More like an art form, really. For example: they have an intermission, and the second those stage lights start dimming, people come out with giant bunches of helium Elmo balloons. Cue kids yelling saying "Elmo! Balloon! Oooh!" and cue parents thinking *Aww, maybe I'll be nice and get a balloon for my kid, that would be cute*. So the balloon guy comes closer and you overhear someone ask how much the balloons are. Cue balloon guy saying "ten dollars", and then cue frazzled parents attempting to steer their balloon-craving children away, resulting in heartache and tantrums. In public. You can all see where this is heading... Cha-ching!

We went out in the lobby during intermission to see what else they were selling. Everything was outrageously priced, so instead of purchasing anything I just took pictures of Henry and Elmo in front of the merch booth ;)  

"What's up, Elmo?"

After intermission, Henry started to get a bit more antsy. He stayed in my lap for about ten more minutes, and then stood up in front of his chair for the rest of the time (about 15 minutes). All the dancing and singing [combined with my ample supply of Goldfish] kept him from wandering away. ;)

They did cool black light stuff where only shoes lit up on stage

It ended up being a really fun experience, and it was completely worth the money, time, and child-geared acting. Henry was completely in awe of the whole show, and if they come back to our city next year I'm sure we will be going again! :)