Sesame Street LIVE in Manila Presents “Elmo’s Coloring Book”

“Sunny day – Sweepin’ the clouds away, On my way to where the air is sweet.
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street…”

“Come and play, everything’s A-OK. Friendly neighbors there that’s where we meet
Can you tell me how to get, How to get to Sesame Street…”

Ok, admit it, you are part of the Sesame Street Generation like I am and our childish memories are tickled every time we sing the Sesame Street theme song. When I heard the Sesame Street gang is coming to Manila, I convinced my brother Rommel to treat Aidan (me included) to the live show of Sesame street (to my delight, of course…). Finally, the VEE Corporation, who was licensed by the Children’s Television Workshop and Jim Henson Productions, to take the life-size characters on the road, has finally arrived and performed in Manila. “Sesame Street Live” debuted in 1980 to clamoring fans of the then-11-year-old “Sesame Street” show and after 27 years, we finally get to watch it in a limited 5-day show in Manila.

We had to buy a DVD of the Sesame Street and let Aidan watch it for a few weeks so that he can relate to Elmo, Big Bird and Ernie and Bert tandem. Aidan now belongs to the Backyardigans, Dora and Barney generation but still he was so fascinated with the Sesame Street characters when he saw them live. As I search my childhood memories, I actually can’t remember Rosita or Zoe and the only character who was not included in the gang was Snuffalafugus (remember him?).

Photos are from the Official Website: www.sesamestreetlive.com. (Click on each photo to get a description of each Sesame Street characters) My favorite Sesame Street character is Cookie Monster because he was the original foodie. Who is your favorite character?

The show is actually expensive which ranges from P500 (Deluxe Side) all the way to the back of Aliw theater to P1,800 (VIP Center) where you can touch the Sesame Street characters when they go down and interact with the audience. The Friday show was 30% occupied so from the Patron Center, we were able to go down to the VIP section after the half time intermission. The show lasted for 90 minutes only and the second half of the show was when the fun began.

The moral lesson of the story emphasizes on the importance of sharing, diversity and acceptance of others of different colors and even those with no colors at all. It is full of amazing songs, dances and interactive participation with the audience. I was surprised that it was truly a world class show with performers coming from different nationalities. After learning that, I did not complain anymore on how expensive the ticket was. I do hope they come back to perform “When Elmo Grows Up”, “Elmo Makes Music” or “Ready for Action”.

For those who missed the show, here are snippets of the “Elmo’s Coloring Book” show…. BTW, amateur photography is allowed as long as you use a point and shoot camera. Professional photography and videotaping, however, are strictly prohibited without prior written consent from VEE Corporation. So I got harassed a number of times every time I bring out my DSLR camera. I reasoned that I’m still an amateur just equipped with a big camera but the bouncer was still very angry about it.

Elmo’s Coloring Book opens with the Sesame Street Gang painting their own pictures on a canvas while singing. The audience role in the show is to help the cast solve a musical mystery and color caper.

Professor Art, a coloring book creator, has arrived on Sesame Street to help them travel into the pictures they have drawn. He is also the audience liaison that interacts with the kids to laugh or react to the Sesame Street characters.

The entire Sesame Street gang with Professor Art and the Palettes are transported into the world of Elmo’s Coloring Book.

Professor Art’s PAL-ettes (Blue, Yellow, and Red) , a girl group dressed in bright colors and singing a la Supremes.

With Professor Art’s Guzzinta 2000 Machine, the audience is transported to magical, historical places. The Guzzinta 2000 Machine is activated by boisterous laughter and it would take all of the kids in the audience to laugh, for it to be activated.

First stop, was the Pyramid of Giza where they met King Tut and Queen Cleopatra. The cast members began to noticed that the colors started disappearing beginning with the gold color in the Egyptian treasure chest.

Next stop was the land of dinosaurs (at this point, I had to stop shooting because the bouncer already treatened to confiscate my camera) and they also noticed the color of the prehistoric flowers disappeared. Then the gang was transported into Oscar’s musical junkyard and Oscar’s green color began disappearing too.

Here is a cute picture of a color-less Oscar the Grouch.

There were two occasion when the characters went down into the middle aisle to interact with the audience. Since we are on the side, we had a hard time approaching the characters. Here is a blurred shot of the frenzy when the characters went down. I was hoping for the Sesame Street characters to go out of the backstage after the show, but apparently they didn’t.

The first part of the show was kinda boring for me but after the 15 minutes intermission, the fun begun. The reason why the colors disappeared in Sesame Street is because of a little white polar bear named Blanche, who has brought the primary colors — red, blue and yellow — to the North Pole to add a little color to her life. So Professor Art introduced Blanche to the importance of the primary colors in Sesame Street performed by the different characters.

Here you will see Cookie Monster’s bluesy “Fuzzy and Blue” performance.

Next, Elmo and company celebrating the color red as they danced the tango to “Hernando’s Hideaway,”

Lastly, Big Bird’s salute to yellow with the Yellow Polka danced to “Roll Out the Barrel”.

Through amazing songs and dances, the show emphasizes the importance of sharing, diversity and the acceptance of others — even those with no color at all.

Professor Art and ageless Elmo with the Guzzinta 2000 Machine.

One of the cute characters in the show was Count Von Count Dracula. He captivates the audience every time he dances with Blue PAL-ettes.

Thanks to Uncle Rommel for treating Aidan (and me) to the Sesame Street show. Aidan was totally focused in watching the show and unfazed by the Sesame street characters. I think this was the longest time (90 minutes!) he had really stayed put in his seat. Good job Sesame Street!

Finally, Blanche agreed to give back Oscar the Grouch’s green color.

I still kept on thinking who is this character?

Bert, Elmo and polar bear, Blanche with the colorful scarf gift from the Sesame Street gang.

It was fun to watch the performances of the Sesame Street Gang as they sing and dance together on stage. These are muffets and I’m still amazed at how natural they perform the dances given their mask and costumes.

Thanks VEE Corporation and the Sesame Street Gang for the wonderful performance and for making the Filipino kids happy :).

Poppa and Aidan poses for the camera as the Sesame Street Gang performs their final song and dance routine.

Related Posts:
‘Elmo’s Coloring Book’ a crayon-hued delight by Sun (Lowell, MA)
`SESAME STREET’ SET TO MAKE T.O. DEBUT.(News) by Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
FIVE THINGS: About Elmo. by Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan)
The gang’s all here By Camille R. Magsadia, Manila Times