Sesame Street Live


 * for the 1973 record album, see Sesame Street LIVE!

Sesame Street Live is the live touring show based on Sesame Street. Produced by Minneapolis-based VEE Corporation, the show opened on September 17, 1980, with a production of A Sesame Street Mystery: The Case of the Missing Rara Avis playing at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Sesame Street Live is now produced as three or four separate tours, each performing a different show, with its own plot, characters, scenery, and soundtrack. Shows are performed in arenas and theaters around the world, generally working on an eight to ten month touring schedule ending in the spring and resuming in the late summer. While in the United States, Sesame Street Live is a bus and truck show, with the equipment moving by two or three trucks and the personnel travelling by bus. (This is contrasted with a show that travels by rail, such as the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.) Outside of the US, air cargo and sea containers are used.

The shows feature original music scores and songs, complemented with old favorites from the show, and professional dancers as costumed characters performing the parts of the Muppets. The productions are done in a theatrical style. In an arena, a stage is built and a false proscenium is created to make the experience more similar to going to a theater.

Show listing

 * 1980 - A Sesame Street Mystery: The Case of the Missing Rara Avis
 * 1981 - Big Bird's Super Spectacular Totally Amateur Show
 * 1982 - Sesame Jamboree
 * 1983 - Around the World
 * 1985 - Save Our Street
 * 1986 - Big Bird Goes Hollywood
 * 1987 - Big Bird & the ABC's
 * 1987 - Big Bird's Sesame Street Story
 * 1989 - Silly Dancing
 * 1990 - Sleeping Birdie
 * 1991 - Let's Play School
 * 1992 - Where's the Birdie?
 * 1993 - When I Grow Up
 * 1993 - Big Bird & Friends
 * 1996 - 1-2-3 Imagine
 * 1997 - Elmo's Coloring Book
 * 1999 - Big Bird's Sunny Day Camp Out
 * 2000 - Let's Be Friends
 * 2001 - Everyone Makes Music
 * 2003 - Out of This World
 * 2005 - Super Grover! Ready For Action!
 * 2006 - Elmo Makes Music
 * 2007 - When Elmo Grows Up
 * TBA - Ernie's Magical Village

There have also been "mini-shows," which have toured in Singapore in 1997 and 1999. The 1997 show was held in Centerpoint shopping complex and featured Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie and Bert. The 1999 show was held in Great World City mall and featured Elmo, Cookie Monster, Ernie and Bert.