THE HANGOVER REPORT – The winning, family-friendly SESAME STREET: THE MUSICAL knows its target audience and delivers

Elmo, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, and Grover in “Sesame Street: The Musical” at Theatre Row (photo courtesy of production.

For the sheer volume of theater playing in New York at any given moment, the city has surprisingly little to offer in terms of theatrical entertainment for young theatergoers (particularly those in the youngest bracket). Apart from the indispensable New Victory Theater in Midtown, I can count on one hand the number of legitimate enterprises which have spent time and effort focusing on children’s theater. These include venues like Theatre Row, which has recently dabbled in hosting the commercial runs of family-friendly shows like sweet Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation and now the winning Sesame Street: The Musical, which officially opened this week in advance of a planned national tour.

In short, Sesame Street: The Musical knows its target audience and delivers accordingly. It’s breezy, family-friendly fun that’s also an excellent primer for budding theater fans, introducing them to the musical theater elements of song, dance, and design, as well as traits such as of calmness and confidence, which are needed to successfully perform in front of a live audience. And as typical for Sesame Street, it also gives a good lesson in the importance of teamwork and community. Most importantly, the musical gives audiences a good amount of exposure to the long-running television show’s iconic characters (among them, Bert, Ernie, Grover, Elmo, The Count, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, etc.) without outstaying its welcome. Indeed, with a running time of just over an hour, families will be able to happily experience the show with having to test the short attention spans of the young ones.

Although the musical features many of the indestructible tunes from the television show (e.g., “Rubber Duckie”, “1-2-3-4-5!”, and of course the instrumental theme song), the score also includes a host of charming, well-crafted new songs – many of which are cleverly inspired by popular Broadway musicals – by notable musical theater composers Tom Kitt, Helen Park, and Nate Edmondson. The production has been lovingly directed by Jonathan Rockefeller, who also serves as the show’s writer and producer. He gives the whole affair a polished, warm staging that moves along at an efficient clip.

RECOMMENDED

SESAME STREET: THE MUSICAL
Off-Broadway, Musical
Theatre Row
1 hour, 5 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 27

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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