Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up

[SSLFan]

From what I heard, it's gonna be covered in flowers and plant life, very "flower power-esque". Sounds a little disturbing, but I'm sure the folks at VEE will pull it off beautifully. I miss the old stage design too. The stage for Let's Play School and Sleeping Birdie were my favorite!

Plant life you say? Well, the only thing I can think of that comes close to that is the stage from DTL.

And I've seen photos of LPS, and I think the schoolhouse design for that stage was pretty cool. I think the stage design from When I Grow Up was my fav.Big Bird's Sunny Day Campout also had a really unique set.

And referring to that photo, is it me, or was the center of the walkout smaller back then? If it was, I wish it was small again. Do you know how many muppets could fit in the center back then? Nowadays, it seems like the center can hold up to all the muppets!

 

[StarrFilter]

Yeah, the ramp and maxi stage was a lot smaller back then. For the 20th anniversary show, "Big Bird's Sunny Day Camp Out" they decided to make the ramp and maxi bigger to bring all the characters closer to the audience. the bigger design works a lot better for that purpose. i love it.

 

[SSLFan]

Yeah, the ramp and maxi stage was a lot smaller back then. For the 20th anniversary show, "Big Bird's Sunny Day Camp Out" they decided to make the ramp and maxi bigger to bring all the characters closer to the audience. the bigger design works a lot better for that purpose. i love it.

You know I never really got to see the show at an arena. When the show comes my city they play at a theater, and the whole maxi stage is taken away. That's the only thing that's missing!lol.

Oh yeah, and I see the shows at the Fox Theater, in Detroit. Ever been there? It's a great venue. It's great they get to play there for five more years.

 

[StarrFilter]

Yeah it's wierd. The west coast and east coast arena tours actually play some big theaters. One of them being the Fox Theater in Detroit on the East Coast arena tour. All the characters are in the show, but lots of position and blocking is changed when they play these cities. And sometimes characters are removed from numbers because there isn't enough room on stage. I marvel at how talented each performer is on the East and West Coast tours because they have to actually learn two different versions of the show. And the poor understudies have to learn anywhere from up to 12 different versions of the show, because if they understudy 5 characters and have to know their own understudy track, they have to learn all the blocking and dance placement for their anrena shows and theater shows. It's a tough job.

 

[SSLFan]

Wow! I never really payed much attention to characters being cut, but you do have a point. I saw a pic of WEGU, and Elmo and Big Bird seem to be cut from most of the opening song. Mainly the second verse of the When I Grow Up theme.

Man, this stuff is truly amazing...

 

[SSLFan]

Hey Ryan, um...I have a question,lol.

Do you know how recently the show programs have been using actual pictures of the show instead of it being illustrated? Well, why did VEE stop doing the illustrated programs? I have to say, I perferred those much over the new ones. The funny thing is that I remember a long time ago wishing that they would start using show photos in there programs,...and I guess I got my wish!LOL

I definatlely regret that now.

And on a random note, when you were little, do you ever remember going to a SSL show, and whenever your favorite character left the stage, you would either get mad or asked where he went? Well, I remember a few times(mostly when I saw the When I Grow Up show) everytime Big Bird(my fav) left the stage, I would be so dissapointed! I would eventually get over it, and as soon as I did, BB was back onstage again. Yay!

 

[StarrFilter]

I agree! I wanted them to put photos in so bad, but now I miss the illustrations. They changed it, because parents thought if they paid 7 dollars for a show program, they want pics from the show, not just a sesame street story book like they could get in any store. And plus, every other live family show; Disney Live, Disney on Ice, Barney Live, Diego Live, Ringling Bros, etc... uses actual photos from the show.

I never really tripped when my favorite left the stage, but I remember it being an issue the first time I saw "Let's Be Friends" when Prairie Dawn didn't speak, and Grover wasn't in the show at all. I was like, Who the **** is Zoe...! LOL, I was rather annoyed. But it was a great show, so I got over it.

 

[SSLFan]

I agree! I wanted them to put photos in so bad, but now I miss the illustrations. They changed it, because parents thought if they paid 7 dollars for a show program, they want pics from the show, not just a sesame street story book like they could get in any store. And plus, every other live family show; Disney Live, Disney on Ice, Barney Live, Diego Live, Ringling Bros, etc... uses actual photos from the show.

Oh, that explains it. Gee, it's a shame. That's one of the things that made VEE so unique from other shows.

I never really tripped when my favorite left the stage, but I remember it being an issue the first time I saw "Let's Be Friends" when Prairie Dawn didn't speak, and Grover wasn't in the show at all. I was like, Who the **** is Zoe...! LOL, I was rather annoyed. But it was a great show, so I got over it.

LOL. That was strange. I mean, how could you leave out lovable old Grover? I'm glad there both speaking again. Well, at least Prairie was for a little while.

And did you hear about Prairie being cut from the Super Grover(well, Elmo now) show? I hear her lines are being dubbed by Rosita mostly. I couldn't believe it! They could've at least made her an u/s. I also know that Cookie Monster and Oscar are being played by the same performer, as well as Baby Bear and The Count.

This is pretty random, but I can honestly say I hate Baby Bear. lol, um..no offense to any fans. I really peferred when he would appear in a FEW shows and return every couple of years. But, I have to remember that it's for the CURRENT generation now....crap!

another random comment... but I'm so happy they're selling Big Bird dolls again! I remember they stopped for awhile, for whatever reason I don't know. Now, all we need are Ernie and Bert dolls! Did they sell them when you went as a child? I know E&B were VERY popular back then.

And thank you for answering my questions Ryan a.k.a StarrFilter! You've told me stuff I never thought went on behind the scenes! I really appreciate all you have said! Thanks!

 

[StarrFilter]

Awww. You're welcome SSL Fan. The whole one performer playing two characters thing is done in order to condence the show from the arena version to the theater version. Prairie Dawn was an easy character to cut from that show seeing as how she didn't move the story along and was not that important to the show. But I AGREE, they should have at least made her an understudy like they did for the theater version of EMM. No one even knows who Roxy Marie is anymore.

I don't remember what dolls they had back then, but I remember the flags they sold of individual characters. I remember my parents buying me and my brother an Oscar, Prairie Dawn, Count, Big Bird, and Snuffy flag. All in different years of course. LOL

 

[SesameStreetGuy]

SO That is probably why I didn't see Telly in 'Big Bird & The ABC's' back in 94'. You know the version I saw of that and When I Grow Up were theatre shows.

I researched 'BB's ABC's' and found some differences here and there, and according to my show program I have. In the original(which is the program I don't have, I have the 91' remount'), Elmo wasn't in it, and I believe Telly Monster must have had to have speaking lines in it as well. I heard things that Snuffy was in the original BB's ABC's, but I find it hard to believe since most of the story focused around Tee Hee.

When I saw the show in 94', Elmo was in it, probably as a small understudy. The program of that show was dated 1991. The cast in that book included Elmo. It also credited Martin Robinson as Telly, although when I saw the show, Telly didn't appear at all, so he probably cut, since it was a theatre show.

Not only that, but in my 91' book of the remounted BB's ABC's the only neighborhood people were the Postman and the Painter, but in the original I also learned that there was a Handyman, and a Doctor, and I even heard there was a Farmer too! I'm sure they were all cut out when the remount of this show came out...minus Mailman and Painter, because they ACTUALLY had speaking lines in 'The People in Your Neighborhood' when Big Bird showed Tee Hee around Sesame Street. Than I don't think the neighborhood people spoke anymore than that.

It is all rather interesting....I wonder if anyone could clear up the differences between the 87' and 91' Big Bird's ABC's though.