Disclosure: I received complimentary tickets to Sesame Street Live. All opinions are my own.
Sesame Street Live was only in Rosemont last weekend, but will be in Merrillville, Indiana, May 8-12 and in Joliet May 14-15.
Website: Sesame Street Live
Location: Rosemont Theater (temporarily the Akoo Theater), 5400 North River Road, Rosemont
Phone: 847-671-5100
Show times: This show was only in town last weekend.
May 8-12 – Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, IN
May 14-15 – Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet
Admission: $15-$90
Tickets in Merrillville are $13-$65 and in Joliet they are $10-$52.
Parking: There is a large attached lot. Parking is $13 (cash only!), or $20 for valet parking.
Bathrooms: The bathrooms are large and had changing tables.
Nursing area: There is no designated nursing area.
Handicapped/stroller accessibility: I would not recommend bringing a stroller. The show is accessible to the handicapped.
Other amenities: There were a variety of Sesame Street products available for purchase. Prices were high – $12 for a soft ball with Sesame Street characters on it, $10 for a mylar Elmo balloon.
Food: Snack foods were available in the lobby; beverages, popcorn, cotton candy, etc.
We paid: We received complimentary tickets to the show and complimentary programs, but paid $13 for parking and for two beverages. Our tickets probably would have been approximately $15 each because opening night tickets were $15, and the programs were $10 each.
Our experience:
A couple months ago I was watching Sesame Street with Dexter and they started advertising Sesame Street Live. Dexter couldn’t stop talking about it and asking if we could go, so I was so excited to surprise him with tickets.
When we arrived at the Rosemont Theatre there were several tables and booths selling snacks, beverages, and various souvenirs. Prices were a bit high, but about what you would expect at this type of show. We found our seats and browsed our program books before the show started.
The set for the show was fairly simple, made up mostly of some screens or panels with the buildings on them. There were a few set changes during the show, but nothing very elaborate. Although the set was simple, it was well done and worked well for the show. The costumes were amazing. They were very realistic and really looked like the characters (rather than just like people in costumes). All the actors moved well in the costumes and looked very natural.
Elmo Makes Music takes place on Sesame Street as a young woman named Jenny is arrived to move to Sesame Street. Jenny is a music teacher, but is upset because the truck carrying all her musical instruments has not arrived. The Sesame Street crew decides to surprise Jenny by collecting things that can be used as instruments to make music.
There are songs throughout – Sesame Street classics and others – most great for singing along. Dexter tends to be pretty shy in public. At Sesame Street Live he jumped out of his seat and danced all over the place to almost every song. He had a fabulous time and we had a great time watching him. Cooper joined in a bit, but mostly just watched the characters singing and dancing.
At intermission two vendors came into the theatre with hundreds of Elmo balloons, which they were selling for $10 each. The parents in the audience descended on them and halfway through intermission almost all the balloons had been sold. I was concerned about the second half of the show; there were balloons everywhere and I was sure they’d obstruct our view, but Big Bird made an announcement before the end of intermission and requested that everyone with a balloon put it under their seat. Amazingly, every single person did and there was not a balloon in sight until the show was over.
The show was about two hours long with an intermission of about 15 minutes. We asked the boys about the show and Cooper declared that it was the best show we’ve seen so far. Dexter agreed.
Disclosure: I received complimentary tickets to Sesame Street Live. All opinions are my own.
