When I Grow Up (Sesame Street Live)

When I Grow Up is a Sesame Street Live show that was first produced by VEE Corporation for the 1993-94 season. It was repeated in the 1995-96 season. The show was revived in 2007 as When Elmo Grows Up.

Prairie Dawn directs a pageant about what everybody on Sesame Street wants to be when they grow up. The whole cast is featured in big song and dance numbers about their dream jobs.

Betty Lou wants to be an astronaut, Grover wants to be a policeman, Bert and Ernie choose forest rangers. Telly Monster wants to be a baseball player, although the Count counts 700 strikes before Telly hits the ball. Cookie Monster wants to be a cook, and open the world's first drive-in cookie restaurant. Elmo starts out wanting to be a cowboy, but as he sees everyone else's choices, he wants to be everything at once.

Oscar the Grouch refuses to participate, claiming that he thought the theme was "When I Throw Up". Grundgetta ropes Oscar into her ballet act, fitting a tutu around his trash can and performing a dance from "The Nutcracker" with her unwilling partner.^[1]

Big Bird is so busy helping others that he doesn't have time to choose a job. In the end, Prairie Dawn makes Big Bird the director.

Scenes[]

ACT ONE:

Sesame Street Theme (by Big Bird)
When I Grow Up (by the whole gang)
Sing After Me (Big Bird with Bert, Ernie and the Audience)
Elmo's Cowboy Number
Walk, Do Not Run! (Grover as a policeman)
Bert and Ernie's Scout Number
There's Nothing We Women Can't Be (Rosita, Prairie Dawn and Zoe)
Cookie's Cookie Drive-in Number

ACT TWO:

Telly as Mr. Baseball
Roxie Marie's Train
I Love Trash (Oscar and the gang)
Amigo (Rosita as a Spanish teacher)
Just One Person
When I Grow Up (Reprise)

Characters[]

Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Grundgetta, Prairie Dawn, Elmo, Grover, Bert, Ernie, Count von Count, Cookie Monster, Telly Monster, Roxie Marie, Betty Lou, Rosita, Honkers, Zoe, Amanda (1993).

Note: This show was the first to feature Rosita and Roxie Marie. Later runs of the show added Zoe, who made her official Sesame Street Live debut in Let's Be Friends.

Cast[]

1999: Kim Sanders as Grover

Voices[]

Frank Oz as Bert, Cookie Monster and Grover
Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch
Jerry Nelson as The Count
Fran Brill as Prairie Dawn, Betty Lou, and Roxie Marie
Kevin Clash as Elmo
Martin P. Robinson as Telly Monster
Steve Whitmire as Ernie
Pam Arciero as Grundgetta
Carmen Osbahr as Rosita

Credits[]

Executive Producer: Vincent E. Egan
Produced by Bob Shipstad
Written by Nancy Sans
Directed by Marilyn Magness
Choreography by John Addis
Music Direction by Don Harper
Art Direction by Steven Kennedy
Lighting Direction by David Agress
Program — Sesame Street Illustrations by Joe Mathieu

Jim Henson's Sesame Street Muppets designed by: Jim Henson, Donald Sahlin, Caroly Wilcox, Kermit Love, Michael K. Frith, Ed Christie
Coordination for Jim Henson Productions, Inc.: Pat Nugent
Jim Henson's Sesame Street Muppet costumes designed and built by: Jim Henson Productions, Inc.
- Design and supervision of construction: Connie Peterson
- Assisted by: Jason Weber
- Mechanical animation by: Mae Canaga, Marilee Canaga

International[]

In May 2001, this show was performed in the Netherlands for Sesamstraat's 25th anniversary, as Als Ik Later Groot Ben. A few changes were made: Telly was featured as a soccer player instead of a baseball player (since soccer is played more often in The Netherlands), and Pino made a couple of introductions.