Yesterday our entire family went to see Sesame Street Live: 1-2-3 Imagine! with Elmo & Friends at the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall.
Imagine singing and dancing with Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird and all your favorite Sesame Street Live friends! It’s as easy as counting “1-2-3 … Imagine!” This high-energy musical will transport audiences to far away places as Ernie captains the high seas, Elmo dances to the rhythm of the African rainforest and Bert meets an octopus who has the blues. It’s a story of adventure and fun that teaches children they can be anyone, do anything and go anywhere with the power of imagination.We were fortunate to receive tickets for the 10:30am show. We arrived just a bit after 10am, and found street-parking. Since the show would be going on during the time my boys usually have lunch, they had a snack before going in while I picked up our tickets at Will Call. At about 10:20 am, we headed towards the hall right after feeding the parking meter ($.25/20 minutes, 2 hour max, Sundays free; we put in the maximum # of quarters and still had 20 minutes left when we returned to the car).
When we arrived at the entrance, there were still LOTS of people still standing in line to go in, but only two doors were open accepting tickets. I thought this was a bit strange considering the show was about to start in less than 10 minutes. After about 5 minutes, another door opened and we rushed to that line.
Luckily we did, because after a quick stop to the restroom, the lights immediately dimmed and the show started (on time!) once we got to our seats, while others were still trickling in.
As soon as it went dark, all the kids in the hall got really excited, and even more so once they saw Big Bird, Elmo, Bert, Ernie, and all of the other lovable Sesame Street characters.
Even though this is the second Sesame Street Live show my two oldest boys have seen, they still seemed to be a little shocked to see the characters in person and so big, and they were very attentive throughout almost the entire show!
1-2-3 Imagine! was as fun as I "imagined" it would be.
Sam the mail carrier and all of the characters imagined themselves to be in various places around the world simply by doing three steps, while encouraging the audience to do the same: 1-Close Your Eyes, 2-Think of a Place, 3-Imagine You're There.
What seemed to be amongst the most popular places the characters imagined themselves to be at involved "glow-in-the-dark" sets of the ocean and the jungle.
The kids "oohed and "aahed" seeing all the creatures in the ocean, and they all screamed in excitement at the big octopus.
The same happened during the jungle set--the kids were excited to see the glowing creatures, especially the butterflies!
Another favorite place involved a tropical island (Hawaii!) on which they started to do the hula, and the audience did the hula with them!
There was a 15 minute intermission, and the ever-so-popular, but quite expensive, Elmo balloons were brought out (we didn't buy any, but last year they were $10--I don't know if the price has gone up since then). Big Bird was heard on the speaker asking everyone to put the balloons under their seat to make sure everyone could see the stage, and the ushers did a good job of making sure the balloons remained under the seats.
Big Bird also gave a 3 minute warning before the show was to resume, and just about 3 minutes later, the show began again with Elmo's World!
Of course, all the kids got excited again, but I personally wish the Elmo's World segment was a little longer as it was in Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up, since that seems to be such a highlight for the kids.
After the Elmo's World segment, Sam and the characters imagined themselves to be at a few more places, and also sang some fun songs that the kids recognized and really enjoyed, such as as If You're Happy and You Know It and She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain.
Adults got a kick of hearing some familiar songs as well throughout the show, such as Hot Hot Hot and Surfin' Safari (the adults in the back of us kept singing along).
A lot of kids (including my own) started to get fidgety during the slower-paced songs, and especially towards the end, so I thought it was very apropos when Sam asked everyone to imagine one last place, and the characters mentioned they wanted to go home and were too tired.
However, everyone still seemed to enjoy the last song and dance performance, but unfortunately the lights went on before the performance finished, so people began to leave the hall. It's too bad because others were still sitting and trying to watch the end.
Overall my kids and DH and I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure just about everyone else there did too.
Musician's favorite parts were when Elmo imagined he was an African drum and the characters ended up in the jungle, and Smiley really enjoyed when the characters were singing If You're Happy and You Know It.
Here is a list of just a few of things I liked most about the show that seemed to make it enjoyable for everyone:
- Interaction with the kids (characters asked them to close their eyes, stomp their feet, and do the hula, and some even came into the crowd)
- Colorful and creative sets
- Educational aspect (counting, learning Spanish words)
- Cool effects (glowing creatures; confetti and streamers)
- Incorporation of videos of real kids throughout the show
It was another great Sesame Street Live production, and we already can't wait for next year's show!
1-2-3 Imagine continues in Honolulu through July 24 at the Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall.
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Thank you to VEE Corporation for providing the tickets for review free of charge. All opinions are my own. I received no monetary compensation for this post.
