Guest Blogger: 'Sesame Street Live'

My sister, Cathy Biermann, turns in this report from Los Angeles, a review of the latest edition of "Sesame Street Live," adding the suggestion, "feel free to make me a guest blogger if you are short one this week":

Well, it's happened, I have officially become a mom. Not that it means I am not cool anymore, but let's just say I remember going out to concerts at 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday and now I am doing it at 10:30 a.m. Sigh.

We went to the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood (home of the annual Academy Award ceremony) and saw "Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music." I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the show and with Gavin. He is a bit young, sure [not yet one year old -- editor], but nothing makes him happier than a little PBS Sesame Street. So we got tickets for the show.

All the old favorites were on hand, plus the new characters not around in our generation. However I did notice a definite lack of Cookie Monster. He was in barely any of the group numbers but did do a solo, shorter version of "C is for Cookie," and I suppose that was good enough for me. I tend to wonder if he is threatened by the new more popular monsters, such as Elmo (better known in the parent world as "baby crack"). Or was it Elmo who was threatened by the 30+ year appeal of Cookie Monster? Hard to say.

The good news was there was a definite synergy between old and new as Rosita (the Spanish-speaking, female monster) did a song and dance with Grover about being blue monsters.

The children in the audience really treated it as if it were a rock concert. When the Count came out to show the number of the day was 8, the children ROARED. We had a little boy behind us that was so into the audience participation that I was crying with laughter. When they said "can you keep a secret" YEAH HE COULD....

The highlight of the show to me was an ode to the '70s with the cast doing "The Hustle" (talk about appealing to older parents) and a Bee Gees number where Bert came out in a silver tux and a disco ball dropped. That, too, was Gavin's favorite. He stood on my legs and squealed with joy and clapped along with the show.

Overall it was a good experience, coming in just under an hour and twenty minutes, which was surprising in that the show held the attention of the kids that long. As we left there was a long line at the concession stand for Elmo t-shirts, much like leaving a Madonna or Rolling Stones show. Only the t-shirts were in sizes like 2T. I'd go again when Gavin is a bit older so he can participate like the little boy behind me. And really I loved it too. 'Cause Sesame Street never gets old, even if we do...

For a different view of Sesame Street, check out this video.